Evaluation of enhanced oil recovery fromclay-rich sandstone formations

Bazyari, Armin; Jamialahmadi, M.; Soulgani, Bahram Soltani; Zeinijahromi, Abbas

doi:10.1080/10916466.2017.1405032

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The ionic strength of brine dictates the extent of interaction forces between fines and pore wall surfaces . Therefore, to design the best SW requires determining the optimum salinity, based on a pore-scale understanding of rock, oil, and brine.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Oil recovery from cores containing clay minerals has been shown to be facilitated by clay swelling, emulsification, and detachment of fines, and their movement through the porous media. − Low-salinity flood tests on a sandstone core yielded more fines in the effluent and greater oil recovery than did high-salinity flood tests, suggesting that fine migration aided oil recovery . How SWF is affected by the presence of connate water, crude polar components, clay minerals, and other parameters was also discussed. − On the other hand, SWF could result in clay mineral movement, flocculation, and redeposition, which would tend to cause pore plugging and formation damage . Reduction of ionic strength in the presence of high CEC clay minerals, especially montmorillonite, led to clay swelling, which in turn reduced the accessibility of pore spaces to fluid flow. , …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…24−26 On the other hand, SWF could result in clay mineral movement, flocculation, and redeposition, which would tend to cause pore plugging and formation damage. 23 Reduction of ionic strength in the presence of high CEC clay minerals, especially montmorillonite, led to clay swelling, which in turn reduced the accessibility of pore spaces to fluid flow. 24,27 Fine migration occurs due to changes in hydrodynamic and electrical forces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…31−33 The ionic strength of brine dictates the extent of interaction forces between fines and pore wall surfaces. 23 Therefore, to design the best SW requires determining the optimum salinity, based on a pore-scale understanding of rock, oil, and brine. One consideration is that fines detachment fosters enhance oil recovery (EOR) by increasing the microscopic displacement efficiency, because blocking pore throats and diverting fluid flow through nonsweep pores brings about new path channels and subsequently, higher oil recovery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance of Smart Water in Clay-Rich Sandstones: Experimental and Theoretical Analysis

et al. 2018

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Smart water (SW) has been recognized as an effective yet environmentally friendly technique for enhanced oil recovery in both carbonate and sandstone reservoirs. However, owing to complexities of oil properties, rock compositions, and ion characteristics, the performance of smart water is not well-understood. This paper attempts to derive insights on how smart water performs in clay-rich sandstones. A comprehensive mechanistic study is carried out on synthetic sandpacks that contain different clay types (kaolinite and montmorillonite) and clay concentrations (3 and 8 wt %), under injection of three SWs (0.3 wt % NaCl, 0.05 wt % NaCl, and 0.3 wt % CaCl2). Extensive experiments and modeling are utilized to investigate wettability alteration at microscopic and macroscopic scales, including swelling index test, zeta potential measurement, core-flooding test, contact angle measurement, particle analysis of effluent, differential pressure analysis across the sandpacks, and disjoining pressure isotherm analysis. The theoretical results of disjoining pressure isotherm analysis show that wettability alteration is more accurately indicated by the maximum peak of the disjoining pressure curve than by the area below the positive section of that curve. This is confirmed by contact angle measurements and recovery factors (RFs). In addition, monovalent cations are found to have stronger impact on changing wettability toward a water-wet state than are divalent cations. We also find that there might exist a minimum salinity below which the expansion of the double layer reaches its maximum. Decreasing the salinity below this minimum value is found not to affect the sample’s wettability. Coreflooding tests show that total RF in the montmorillonite sandpacks is higher than in those made up of kaolinite. In general, a direct relationship is found between clay concentration and RFs. Furthermore, it is found that fines migration and wettability alteration are the dominant mechanism in kaolinite sandpacks, while clay swelling, wettability alteration, and a salt-in effect have been reported to be more significant in montmorillonite sandpacks.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance of Smart Water in Clay-Rich Sandstones: Experimental and Theoretical Analysis

et al. 2018

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“…Depending on the amount of charge on the clay surfaces and the type of counterion between layers, the spacing can be controlled by the amount of hydration, enabling a wide range of interfaces to be created [114,115]. It is therefore unsurprising that clay materials have found applications in catalysis, desalination, enhanced oil recovery, and isolation barriers for radioactive waste disposal [116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125][126]. Since the catalytic and molecular sieving properties depend upon the diffusivity of the adsorbed molecules, a study of the dynamics of guest molecules adsorbed in zeolitic and clay materials is necessary to understand these properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffusion of confined fluids in microporous zeolites and clay materials

Mitra¹,

Sharma²,

Mukhopadhyay³

2021

Rep. Prog. Phys.

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Fluids exhibit remarkable variation in their structural and dynamic properties when they are confined at the nanoscopic scale. Various factors, including geometric restriction, the size and shape of the guest molecules, the topology of the host, and guest–host interactions, are responsible for the alterations in these properties. Due to their porous structures, aluminosilicates provide a suitable host system for studying the diffusion of sorbates in confinement. Zeolites and clays are two classes of the aluminosilicate family, comprising very ordered porous or layered structures. Zeolitic materials are important due to their high catalytic activity and molecular sieving properties. Guest molecules adsorbed by zeolites display many interesting features including unidimensional diffusion, non-isotropic rotation, preferred orientation and levitation effects, depending on the guest and host characteristics. These are useful for the separation of hydrocarbons which commonly exist as mixtures in nature. Similarly, clay materials have found application in catalysis, desalination, enhanced oil recovery, and isolation barriers used in radioactive waste disposal. It has been shown that the bonding interactions, level of hydration, interlayer spacing, and number of charge-balancing cations are the important factors that determine the nature of diffusion of water molecules in clays. Here, we present a review of the current status of the diffusion mechanisms of various adsorbed species in different microporous zeolites and clays, as investigated using quasielastic neutron scattering and classical molecular dynamics simulation techniques. It is impossible to write an exhaustive review of the subject matter, as it has been explored over several decades and involves many research topics. However, an effort is made to cover the relevant issues specific to the dynamics of different molecules in microporous zeolites and clay materials and to highlight a variety of interesting features that are important for both practical applications and fundamental aspects.

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