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Abstract

Summary

Low salinity water (LSW) is reported to improve oil recovery (IOR) significantly in sandstone and carbonate core experiments. The IOR is because of the specific composition of the injection water, in particular the concentrations of SO42-, Ca2+, and Mg2+. Ranges of IOR vary significantly depending on the brine, oil and cores used. We previously developed a process-based and predictive model that explicitly includes the chemical interactions between crude oil, brine, and the carbonate surface that alter rock wettability. In this research, we use the developed model to optimize the IOR considering the brine, oil and mineral compositions.

The wettability alteration is predicted by the relative change of the surface adsorbed carboxylic acids, which is coupled with a set of aqueous and surface reactions. The total concentrations of aqueous and surface species are varied individually and together over a large range while precipitation and dissolution reactions are also included. The wettability is mapped in the space spanned by the species concentrations.

The IOR depend strongly on the concentration of Ca2+, Mg2+ and SO42-, as well as the total ionic strength. CaSO4 and MgSO4 precipitation are found to reduce the extent of the wettability alteration to a more water wet state. Ca2+ and Mg2+ can replace each other at low concentration, while less Ca2+ and more Mg2+ leads to more wettability alteration because MgSO4 has a higher solubility in water than CaSO4. The injection water “recipes” that maximize IOR depends strongly on a suite of reservoir properties, including the initial formation water, and available water source, as well as the reservoir mineralogy and crude oil composition. Our results demonstrate for specific cases how to select the best injection water chemistry to maximize oil wettability alteration.

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/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201600765
2016-05-30
2024-04-19

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Understanding the Chemical Mechanisms for Low Salinity Waterflooding
Conference Proceedings 2016, 1 (2016); https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.201600765
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201600765
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201600765
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