Zeta potential in intact carbonates at reservoir conditions and its impact on oil recovery during controlled salinity waterflooding

Collini, Harry; Li, Shuai; Jackson, Matthew D.; Agenet, Nicolas; Rashid, Bilal; Couves, J. W.

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2019.116927

Cited by 53 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Although extensively studied, the oil-recovery mechanism(s) of LSW remains obscure (Sohal et al 2016;Purswani et al 2017;Katende and Sagala 2019;Bartels et al 2019;Hao et al 2019). There is some consensus that injected brine compositions should be chosen to alter rock wettability toward more water wet by controlling, for example, surface charge at the rock/brine interface and/or by detaching asphaltene molecules from the rock surfaces (Norrman et al 2018;Hu et al 2018;Collini et al 2020;Shaik et al 2020). Mineral surface chemistry is a sensitive function of in situ brine composition, in particular aqueous pH.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Compositions in Salinity Waterflooding of Carbonate Reservoirs: Theory

2021

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Higher oil recovery after waterflood in carbonate reservoirs is attributed to increasing water wettability of the rock that in turn relies on complicated surface chemistry. In addition, calcite mineral reacts with aqueous solutions and can alter substantially the composition of injected water by mineral dissolution. Carefully designed chemical and/or brine flood compositions in the laboratory may not remain intact while the injected solutions pass through the reactive reservoir rock. This is especially true for a low-salinity waterflood process, where some finely tuned brine compositions can improve flood performances, whereas others cannot. We present a 1D reactive transport numerical model that captures the changes in injected compositions during water flow through porous carbonate rock. We include highly coupled bulk aqueous and surface carbonate-reaction chemistry, detailed reaction and mass transfer kinetics, 2:1 calcium ion exchange, and axial dispersion. At typical calcite reaction rates, local equilibrium is established immediately upon injection. In SI, we validate the reactive transport model against analytic solutions for rock dissolution, ion exchange, and longitudinal dispersion, each considered separately. Accordingly, using an open-source algorithm (Charlton and Parkhurst in Comput Geosci 37(10):1653–1663, 2011. 10.1016/j.cageo.2011.02.005), we outline a design tool to specify chemical/brine flooding formulations that correct for composition alteration by the carbonate rock. Subsequent works compare proposed theory against experiments on core plugs of Indiana limestone and give examples of how injected salinity compositions deviate from those designed in the laboratory for water-wettability improvement.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Compositions in Salinity Waterflooding of Carbonate Reservoirs: Theory

2021

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“…In both rock types, decreasing salinity is not a necessary condition for improved recovery. Rather, the composition of the injected brine must be altered compared to that initially present in the medium (Austad et al, 2010(Austad et al, , 2015Collini et al, 2020). Although detailed molecular-and pore-level mechanism(s) are not known, there is some agreement that incremental oil production originates by altering rock wettability towards more water wet (Mahani et al, 2017;Katende and Sagala, 2019;Hao et al, 2019;Rücker et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Compositions in Modified Salinity Waterflooding of Carbonate Reservoirs -- Experiment

Yutkin

Radke²,

Patzek³

2021

Preprint

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Modified or low-salinity waterflooding of carbonate oil reservoirs is of considerable economic interest because of potentially inexpensive incremental oil production. The injected modified brine changes the surface chemistry of the carbonate rock and crude oil interfaces and detaches some adhered crude oil. Composition design of the modified brine to enhance oil recovery is determined by labor-intensive trial-and-error laboratory corefloods. Unfortunately, limestone, which predominantly consists of aqueous-reactive calcium carbonate, alters injected brine composition by mineral dissolution/precipitation. Accordingly, the rock reactivity hinders rational design of the tailored brine to improve oil recovery. Previously, we presented a theoretical analysis of 1D, single-phase brine injection into calcium carbonate-rock that accounts for mineral dissolution, ion exchange, and dispersion (Yutkin et. al 2021). Here we present the results of single-phase waterflood-brine experiments that verify the theoretical framework. We show that concentration histories eluted from Indiana limestone cores possess features characteristic of fast calcium carbonate dissolution, 2:1 ion exchange, and high dispersion. The injected brine reaches chemical equilibrium inside the porous rock even at injection rates higher than 1000 ft/day. Ion exchange results in salinity waves observed experimentally, while high dispersion is responsible for long concentration history tails. Using the verified theoretical framework, we briefly explore how these processes modify aqueous-phase composition during the injection of designer brines into a calcium-carbonate reservoir. Because of high salinity of the initial and injected brines, ion exchange affects injected concentrations only in high surface area carbonates/limestones, such as chalks. Calcium-carbonate dissolution only affects aqueous solution pH. The rock surface composition is affected by all processes.

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“…An understanding of the liquid/solid interface charge described by the zeta potential and its relationship to rock surface wettability can reduce the uncertainty associated with wettability measurement methods [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The zeta potential is the electro-kinetic potential measured at the slipping plane located in the diffuse layer that separates the charged surface of the electrolyte solution, and it is considered to be a vital parameter in the monitoring of geophysical sub-surfaces, wettability control, and the adsorption of polar components in aquifers and oil reservoirs [19,[21][22][23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A more water-wet condition occurs when the interaction between crude oil and the rock surface is repulsive, because both interfaces possess the same surface polarity. Conversely, an oil-wet condition will occur when the surface/oil charge polarities differ [23,[26][27][28]. Hence, wettability depends on the attractive van der Waals interaction forces and the repulsive electrical double layer [29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Framework to Quantify the Wetting Behaviour of Carbonate Rock Surfaces Based on the Relationship between Zeta Potential and Contact Angle

et al. 2020

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This study introduces a new framework to quantify the wettability of powdered carbonate rock from existing correlations between zeta potential and contact angle. The new framework has the potential to be faster and cheaper than conventional approaches and could increase confidence in surface wetting quantification, since the results are insensitive to the inherent heterogeneity of rock surfaces. The obtained results from experiments were used to develop a set of equations for determining the carbonate rock contact angle from streaming potential data. The equations were validated for the evaluation of changes in the wettability of carbonate rock using different stearic acid oily solutions. The contact angles calculated from the proposed equations were then compared with measured values on the calcite surface. The results show that the proposed framework was able to quantify the wettability of carbonate rock with an acceptable range of error of about 4%–14%.

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Zeta potential in intact carbonates at reservoir conditions and its impact on oil recovery during controlled salinity waterflooding

Cited by 53 publications

References 41 publications

Chemical Compositions in Salinity Waterflooding of Carbonate Reservoirs: Theory

Chemical Compositions in Salinity Waterflooding of Carbonate Reservoirs: Theory

Chemical Compositions in Modified Salinity Waterflooding of Carbonate Reservoirs -- Experiment

A New Framework to Quantify the Wetting Behaviour of Carbonate Rock Surfaces Based on the Relationship between Zeta Potential and Contact Angle

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