A comprehensive review of low salinity/engineered water injections and their applications in sandstone and carbonate rocks

Al-Shalabi, Emad W.; Sepehrnoori, Kamy

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2015.11.027

Cited by 277 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 127 publications

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“…In general, the processes and the overall effect of particle migration on the hydrodynamic properties of the rock vary depending on characteristics of the rock and the circumstances. Some authors [60][61][62][63][64] have studied the importance of fine particle migration in CO 2 storage and during brine disposal demonstrating its significance on flow pathways and engineered water injection. For more detailed studies, migration of fine particles should be considered.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative and Quantitative Changes of Carbonate Rocks Exposed to SC CO2 (Basque-Cantabrian Basin, Northern Spain)

Berrezueta

Kovács²,

Luquot

2017

Applied Sciences

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Abstract:This study aims at the qualitative and quantitative determination of porosity, mineralogical and textural changes in carbonate rock samples after injection of (i) supercritical CO 2 -rich brine and (ii) dry supercritical CO 2 , under similar experimental conditions (P ≈ 75 bar, T ≈ 35 • C, 970 h exposure time and no CO 2 flow). The studied rocks were sampled in the western Basque-Cantabrian Basin, North Spain, and consist of vuggy carbonates ("Carniolas") of the Puerto de la Palombera formation (Hettangian). Mineralogical and pore space characterization is completed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and optical image analysis. In addition, X-ray fluorescence analyses are performed to refine the mineralogical information and to obtain whole rock geochemical data and the brine composition is analysed before and after the experiment. Mineralogical and chemical results indicate that the carbonate rocks exposed to supercritical CO 2 in dry conditions do not suffer significant changes. However, the injection of supercritical CO 2 -rich brine induces chemical and physical changes in the rock due to the high reactivity of calcite at the low pH conditions produced by the acidified brine. Numerical modelling validates the experimental observations. These results can be used to characterize the behaviour of carbonate rocks under conditions similar to the vicinity of a CO 2 injection well. The results should be considered only at the scale of the studied samples and not at reservoir scale.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative and Quantitative Changes of Carbonate Rocks Exposed to SC CO2 (Basque-Cantabrian Basin, Northern Spain)

Berrezueta

Kovács²,

Luquot

2017

Applied Sciences

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“…While we did not explicitly investigate the non-uniqueness of history matching, we can use the derived relative permeability curve to investigate the effect of multi-component ion exchange on recovery factor. The common practice to simulate the effect of LSWF is incorporating wettability alteration by treating relative permeability curves from mixed or oil wet to more water wet [52]. Two sets of relative permeability curves should be defined to represent HS and LS water effect.…”

Section: Core-scale Numerical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of multi-component ions exchange on low salinity EOR: Coupled geochemical simulation study

2016

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The mechanism(s) of Low salinity water flooding (LSWF) has been extensively investigated for 15-20 years, as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly technique for improved oil recovery. However, there is still no consensus on the dominant mechanism(s) behind low salinity effect due to the complexity of interactions in the Crude oil/Brine/Rock (COBR) system. While wettability is most agreed mechanism of low salinity EOR effect. Nevertheless, the mechanism(s) behind the wettability change is debated between multi-component ion exchange (MIE) and double layer expansion (DLE) in sandstone reservoirs. This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of MIE with a coupled geochemical-reservoir model using published experimental data reported by Nasralla and Nasr-El-We created core-scale numerical models with parameters identical to those used in the experiments. We simulated the low salinity effect using a commercial reservoir simulator, CMG-GEM, by coupling three chemical reactions: (1) aqueous reaction, (2) multi-component ion exchange, and (3) mineral dissolution and precipitation. We modelled the adsorption of divalent cations on the surface of the clay minerals during low salinity water injection. Simulation results were compared with the experimental results.Simulation results show that the fractional adsorption of divalent cations (Ca 2+ ) increased almost 25% by injecting a 2,000 ppm NaCl solution, compared to initial 10,000 ppm NaCl. Injecting a 2,000 ppm of CaCl 2 solution, however, significantly increased the adsorbed Ca 2+ from 0.1 to 1, which implies the complete saturation of mineral surface with divalent cations. Moreover, injecting 50,000 ppm of CaCl 2 solution also demonstrated the same effect as the 2,000 ppm CaCl 2 solution but with a faster rate.Upon combining the simulation and experimental results, we concluded that the multi-component ion exchange is not the sole mechanism behind low salinity effect for two reasons. First, almost 10% additional oil recovery was observed from the experiments by injecting the 2,000 ppm CaCl 2 compared with 50,000 ppm CaCl 2 solutions. Even though in both cases the surface is expected to be fully saturated with Ca 2+ according to the geochemical modelling. Second, 6% incremental oil recovery was achieved from the experiments by injecting 2,000 ppm NaCl solution compared with that of 50,000 ppm NaCl. Although 25% incremental adsorption of divalent cations (Ca 2+ ) were presented during the flooding of the 2,000 ppm NaCl solution. Therefore, it is worth noting that the electrical double layer expansion due to the ion exchange needs to be taken into account to pinpoint the mechanism(s) of low-salinity water effect.

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“…The excavation of underground rock engineering is often affected by groundwater [1,2]. Under high geo-stress, high groundwater pressure is prone to cause engineering geological disasters, such as water inrush.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Triaxial Loading and Unloading Tests on Dry and Saturated Sandstone Specimens

Sun

Zhu

et al. 2019

Applied Sciences

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The brittle failure of hard rock due to the excavation unloading in deep rock engineering often causes serious problems in mining and tunneling engineering, and the failure process is always affected by groundwater. In order to investigate the effects of stress paths and water conditions on the mechanical properties and failure behavior of rocks, a series of triaxial compression tests were conducted on dry and saturated sandstones under various loading and unloading paths. It was found that when the sandstone rock samples are saturated by water, the cohesion, the internal friction angle and the Young’s modulus will decrease but the Poisson′s ratio will increase. The fracturing characteristics of the sandstone specimens are related to the initial confining pressure, the stress paths and the water conditions from both macroscopic and microscopic viewpoints. The failure of sandstone in unloading test is more severe than that under loading test, particularly for dry sandstone samples. In unloading test, the energy is mainly consumed for the circumferential deformation and converted into kinetic energy for the rock bursts. The sandstone is more prone to produce internal cracks under the effect of water, and the absorbed energy mainly contributes to the damage of rock. It indicates that the possibility of rockburst in saturated rock is lower than the samples in dry condition. It is important to mention that water injection in rock is an effective way to prevent rockburst in deep rock engineering.

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A comprehensive review of low salinity/engineered water injections and their applications in sandstone and carbonate rocks

Cited by 277 publications

References 127 publications

Qualitative and Quantitative Changes of Carbonate Rocks Exposed to SC CO2 (Basque-Cantabrian Basin, Northern Spain)

Qualitative and Quantitative Changes of Carbonate Rocks Exposed to SC CO2 (Basque-Cantabrian Basin, Northern Spain)

Effect of multi-component ions exchange on low salinity EOR: Coupled geochemical simulation study

Triaxial Loading and Unloading Tests on Dry and Saturated Sandstone Specimens

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