Effect of salinity, Mg2+ and SO42− on “smart water”-induced carbonate wettability alteration in a model oil system

Song, Jinlong; Wang, Qing; Shaik, Imran; Puerto, Maura; Bikkina, Prem; Aichele, Clint P.; Biswal, Sibani Lisa; Hirasaki, George J.

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.12.040

Cited by 61 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The negative zeta potential in 0.164 M NaCl is a result of (1) the presence of impurities on the limestone surface and (2) the reduction of cation adsorption compared to high-salinity brines 15 . If the NaCl concentration increases, the Indiana limestone surface will be less negatively charged due to the electrical double layer compression and may become positively charged due to cation (mostly Na + ) surface binding 15,22 . The Indiana limestone zeta potential is −6.9 ± 2.4 mV in 0.4 M NaCl in a closed system.…”

Section: Correlation Between Wettability Alteration and Rock/oil Elecmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals

Song

Rezaee

Guo

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

the injection of low-salinity brine enhances oil recovery by altering the mineral wettability in carbonate reservoirs. However, the reported effectiveness of low-salinity water varies significantly in the literature, and the underlying mechanism of wettability alteration is controversial. In this work, we investigate the relationships between characteristics of crude oils and the oils' response to low-salinity water in a spontaneous imbibition test, aiming (1) to identify suitable indicators of the effectiveness of low-salinity water and (2) to evaluate possible mechanisms of low-salinity-induced wettability alteration, including rock/oil charge repulsion and microdispersion formation. Seven oils are tested by spontaneous imbibition and fully characterized in terms of their acidity, zeta potential, interfacial tension, microdispersion propensity, water-soluble organics content and saturate-aromatic-resinasphaltene fractionation. For the first time, the effectiveness of low-salinity water is found to positively correlate with the oil interfacial tension in low-salinity water. Oils with higher interfacial activity are found to respond more positively to low-salinity water. Moreover, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy images suggest that microdispersion is essentially macroemulsion, and its formation is an effective indicator-but not the root cause-of wettability alteration. The repulsive zeta potential for the rock and the oil in low-salinity water is found to be an insufficient condition for wettability alteration in carbonate minerals.

show abstract

Section: Correlation Between Wettability Alteration and Rock/oil Elecmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals

Song

Rezaee

Guo

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The mechanisms to explain this behavior generally fall within two distinct concepts: the double layer expansion (DLE) model 13,14 posits the presence of an aqueous wetting layer between the carbonate and petroleum phases, whose thickness is controlled by changes in the diffuse layer screening in low ionic strength brines. This concept implicitly assumes that the carbonate surface has a pH-dependent surface charge (e.g., due to protonation reactions of the surface functional groups), which is screened by counter ions, either adsorbed on the surface or distributed in a diffuse ion layer (with a screening length that is controlled by the ionic strength of a solution) [15][16][17][18][19][20][21] . This picture is well-established for oxide-water interfaces, such as the rutile (TiO 2 ) (110) surface 22-24 . In contrast, molecular scale measurements of the well-defined calcite (CaCO 3 ) (104) cleavage surface have found that its speciation does not follow this prediction 25 , and separate measurements of ion adsorption suggest that the net charge of a calcite surface is quite small 26 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular-scale origins of wettability at petroleum–brine–carbonate interfaces

Fenter

Qin

Lee

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wettability control of carbonates is a central concept for enhanced petroleum recovery, but a mechanistic understanding of the associated molecular-scale chemical processes remains unclear. We directly probe the interface of calcium carbonate (calcite) with natural petroleum oil, synthetic petroleum analogues, and aqueous brines to understand the molecular scale behavior at this interface. The calcite–petroleum interface structure is similar whether or not calcite was previously exposed to an aqueous brine, and is characterized by an adsorbed interfacial layer, significant structural changes within the calcite surface, and increased surface roughness. No evidence for an often-assumed thin-brine wetting layer at the calcite–petroleum interface is observed. These features differ from those observed at the calcite–brine interface, and for parallel measurements using model synthetic petroleum mixtures (consisting of representative components, including dodecane, toluene, and asphaltene). Changes to the interface after petroleum displacement by aqueous brines are also discussed.

show abstract

“…ZP of rock-brine and oil-brine systems are widely used as a reference to quantify specific surface-to-ion interactions. For example, the results from Al-Mahrouqi et al [28] and Song et al [23] suggest that the assumptions made by Austad and collaborators regarding specific ion interactions (SO 4 2− and Na + ) can be confirmed using ZP data. Empirical models, for instance, the Bond-Product-Sum (BPS), had relative success in quantifying the wettability alteration trends and their relation to ZP values for limestone [29].…”

Section: Experimental Observations and Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The authors concluded that increasing sulfate and decreasing sodium concentration might be beneficial for altering wettability towards a water-wet condition in chalks. Those results motivated researchers to investigate the impact of potential determining ions concentration in oil recovery from carbonate [21][22][23].…”

Section: Experimental Observations and Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Waterflooding remains the most commonly used method to improve oil recovery. Although the injected brine type is mainly dependent on its availability, few of its characteristics can be controlled during project design. Published laboratory work indicates that the adjustment of injected brine composition can cause an increase in oil production by wettability alteration. This research objective is to propose a novel four-step framework for modeling improved oil recovery by Engineered Water Injection from laboratory to numerical simulation for carbonate formations. We use a geochemical-based model that estimates contact angles to predict wettability alteration. The steps are (1) screening criteria, (2) geochemical evaluation, (3) wettability alteration modeling, and (4) coreflood history-match. We validate our framework by conducting history-match simulations of Brazilian Pre-Salt corefloods. Incremental oil recovery factors are between 5 to 11%, consistent with those reported during experiments. The reduction in residual oil saturation varied from 3 to 5%. This work is a new systematic procedure to model oil recovery using a comprehensive approach that is fundamental to understanding the underlying wettability alteration mechanisms by Engineered Water Injection.

show abstract

Effect of salinity, Mg2+ and SO42− on “smart water”-induced carbonate wettability alteration in a model oil system

Cited by 61 publications

References 47 publications

Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals

Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals

Molecular-scale origins of wettability at petroleum–brine–carbonate interfaces

Modeling Oil Recovery in Brazilian Carbonate Rock by Engineered Water Injection Using Numerical Simulation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About