scholarly journals Hybrid Engineered Water–Polymer Flooding in Carbonates: A Review of Mechanisms and Case Studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (17) ◽  
pp. 6087
Author(s):  
Mariam Shakeel ◽  
Peyman Pourafshary ◽  
Muhammad Rehan Hashmet
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Polymer Flooding ◽  
Driving Factors ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Rock Surface ◽  
Hybrid Technique ◽  
High Salinity Water

The fast depletion of oil reserves has steered the petroleum industry towards developing novel and cost-effective enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques in order to get the most out of reservoirs. Engineered water–polymer flooding (EWPF) is an emerging hybrid EOR technology that uses the synergetic effects of engineered water (EW) and polymers to enhance both the microscopic and macroscopic sweep efficiencies, which mainly results from: (1) the low-salinity effect and the presence of active ions in EW, which help in detachment of carboxylic oil material from the rock surface, wettability alteration, and reduction in the residual oil saturation; (2) the favorable mobility ratio resulting from the use of a polymer; and (3) the improved thermal and salinity resistance of polymers in EW. Various underlying mechanisms have been proposed in the literature for EW EOR effects in carbonates, but the main driving factors still need to be understood properly. Both polymer flooding (PF) and EW have associated merits and demerits. However, the demerits of each can be overcome by combining the two methods, known as hybrid EWPF. This hybrid technique has been experimentally investigated for both sandstone and carbonate reservoirs by various researchers. Most of the studies have shown the synergistic benefits of the hybrid method in terms of two- to four-fold decreases in the polymer adsorption, leading to 30–50% reductions in polymer consumption, making the project economically viable for carbonates. EWPF has resulted in 20–30% extra oil recovery in various carbonate coreflood experiments compared to high-salinity water flooding. This review presents insights into the use of hybrid EWPF for carbonates, the main recovery driving factors in the hybrid process, the advantages and limitations of this method, and some areas requiring further work.

scholarly journals A mechanistic investigation of low salinity water flooding coupled with ion tuning for enhanced oil recovery

RSC Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (69) ◽  
pp. 42570-42583
Author(s):  
Rohit Kumar Saw ◽  
Ajay Mandal
Keyword(s):  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Rock Surface ◽  
Calcite Dissolution ◽  
Low Salinity ◽  
Low Salinity Water ◽  
Mechanistic Investigation ◽  
Salinity Water

The combined effects of dilution and ion tuning of seawater for enhanced oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs. Dominating mechanisms are calcite dissolution and the interplay of potential determining ions that lead to wettability alteration of rock surface.

scholarly journals Experimental and modeling study of wettability alteration through seawater injection in limestone: a case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 749-758
Author(s):  
Omolbanin Seiedi ◽  
Mohammad Zahedzadeh ◽  
Emad Roayaei ◽  
Morteza Aminnaji ◽  
Hossein Fazeli
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Contact Angle Measurement ◽  
Angle Measurement ◽  
Carbonate Reservoirs ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Rock Surface ◽  
Indirect Contact ◽  
Molecular Kinetic Theory ◽  
Wet Condition

AbstractWater flooding is widely applied for pressure maintenance or increasing the oil recovery of reservoirs. The heterogeneity and wettability of formation rocks strongly affect the oil recovery efficiency in carbonate reservoirs. During seawater injection in carbonate formations, the interactions between potential seawater ions and the carbonate rock at a high temperature can alter the wettability to a more water-wet condition. This paper studies the wettability of one of the Iranian carbonate reservoirs which has been under Persian Gulf seawater injection for more than 10 years. The wettability of the rock is determined by indirect contact angle measurement using Rise in Core technique. Further, the characterization of the rock surface is evaluated by molecular kinetic theory (MKT) modeling. The data obtained from experiments show that rocks are undergoing neutral wetting after the aging process. While the wettability of low permeable samples changes to be slightly water-wet, the wettability of the samples with higher permeability remains unchanged after soaking in seawater. Experimental data and MKT analysis indicate that wettability alteration of these carbonate rocks through prolonged seawater injection might be insignificant.

scholarly journals Interfacial Phenomena Effect on Sand Production Due to Optimized Smart Water with/without the Presence of Nanoparticles

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 6652-6668
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Rock Surface ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Smart Water ◽  
Comparison Of The Results

Historically, smart water flooding is proved as one of the methods used to enhance oil recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs. This method has been spread due to its low cost and ease of operation, with changing the composition and concentration of salts in the water, the smart water injection leads to more excellent compatibility with rock and fluids. However, due to a large number of sandstone reservoirs in the world and the increase of the recovery factor using this high-efficiency method, a problem occurs with the continued injection of smart water into these reservoirs a phenomenon happened in which called rock leaching. Indeed, sand production is the most common problem in these fields. Rock wettability alteration toward water wetting is considered as the main cause of sand production during the smart water injection mechanism. During this process, due to stresses on the rock surface as well as disturbance of equilibrium, the sand production in the porous media takes place. In this paper, the effect of wettability alteration of oil wetted sandstones (0.005,0.01,0.02 and 0.03 molar stearic acid in normal heptane) on sand production in the presence of smart water is fully investigated. The implementation of an effective chemical method, which is nanoparticles, have been executed to prevent sand production. By stabilizing silica nanoparticles (SiO2) at an optimum concentration of 2000 ppm in smart water (pH=8) according to the results of Zeta potential and DLS test, the effect of wettability alteration of oil wetted sandstones on sand production in the presence of smart water with nanoparticles is thoroughly reviewed. Ultimately, a comparison of the results showed that nanoparticles significantly reduced sand production.

scholarly journals Enhanced oil recovery after polymer flooding by wettability alteration to gas wetness using numerical simulation

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kewen Li ◽  
Changhui Cheng ◽  
Changwei Liu ◽  
Lin Jia
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Polymer Flooding ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Reservoir Permeability ◽  
Gas Flooding ◽  
Water Cut ◽  
Enhance Oil Recovery

Polymer flooding, as one of the Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods, has been adopted in many oilfields in China and some other countries. Over 50% oil remains undeveloped in many oil reservoirs after polymer flooding. It has been a great challenge to find approaches to further enhancing oil recovery when polymer flooding is over. In this study, a new method was proposed to increase oil production using gas flooding with wettability alteration to gas wetness when polymer flooding has been completed. The rock wettability was altered from liquid- to gas-wetness during gas flooding. An artificial oil reservoir was constructed and many numerical simulations have been conducted to test the effect of wettability alteration on the oil recovery in reservoirs developed by water flooding and followed by polymer flooding. Production data from different scenarios, water flooding, polymer flooding after water flooding, gas flooding with and without wettability alteration after polymer flooding, were calculated using numerical simulation. The results demonstrate that the wettability alteration to gas wetness after polymer flooding can significantly enhance oil recovery and reduce water cut effectively. Also studied were the combined effects of wettability alteration and reservoir permeability on oil recovery.

Study on the Mechanism of Enhancing Oil Recovery by Molecular Film Displacement

2011 ◽  
Vol 236-238 ◽  
pp. 2135-2141
Author(s):  
Qi Cheng Liu ◽  
Yong Jian Liu
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Electrostatic Interaction ◽  
Ultrathin Films ◽  
Water Solution ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Nanometer Scale ◽  
Rock Surface ◽  
Capillary Imbibition ◽  
Molecular Film ◽  
Polymer Surfactant

Molecular film displacement is a new nanofilm EOR technique. A large number of experiments show that the mechanism of molecular film displacement is different from conventional chemical displacement (polymer, surfactant, alkali and ASP displacement etc). With water solution acting as transfer medium, molecules of the filming agent develop the force to form films through electrostatic interaction, with efficient molecules deposited on the negatively charged rock surface to form ultrathin films at nanometer scale. This change the properties of reservoir surface and the interaction condition with crude oil, making the oil easily be displaced as the pores swept by the injected fluid. Thus oil recovery is enhanced. The mechanism of molecular filming agent mainly includes absorption, wettability alteration, diffusion and capillary imbibition etc.

An Easy Calculation Method on Sweep Efficiency of Chemical Flooding

2013 ◽  
Vol 275-277 ◽  
pp. 496-501
Author(s):  
Fu Qing Yuan ◽  
Zhen Quan Li
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Orthogonal Design ◽  
Polymer Flooding ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Solution Viscosity ◽  
Chemical Flooding ◽  
Oil Viscosity ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Easy Calculation ◽  
Polymer Compound

According to the geological parameters of Shengli Oilfield, sweep efficiency of chemical flooding was analyzed according to injection volume, injection-production parameters of polymer flooding or surfactant-polymer compound flooding. The orthogonal design method was employed to select the important factors influencing on expanding sweep efficiency by chemical flooding. Numerical simulation method was utilized to analyze oil recovery and sweep efficiency of different flooding methods, such as water flooding, polymer flooding and surfactant-polymer compound flooding. Finally, two easy calculation models were established to calculate the expanding degree of sweep efficiency by polymer flooding or SP compound flooding than water flooding. The models were presented as the relationships between geological parameters, such as effective thickness, oil viscosity, porosity and permeability, and fluid parameters, such as polymer-solution viscosity and oil-water interfacial tension. The precision of the two models was high enough to predict sweep efficiency of polymer flooding or SP compound flooding.

scholarly journals Salt tolerant acrylamide-based quenched polyampholytes for polymer flooding

2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 119-127
Author(s):  
N. Mukhametgazy ◽  
◽  
I.Sh. Gussenov ◽  
A.V. Shakhvorostov ◽  
S.E. Kudaibergenov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Saline Water ◽  
Core Sample ◽  
Polymer Flooding ◽  
Trimethylammonium Chloride ◽  
Salt Tolerant ◽  
High Salinity Water ◽  
Cationic Monomer ◽  
Aqueous Salt Solutions ◽  
Salinity Water

In our previous papers [1, 2] we considered the behavior of linear and crosslinked polyampholytes based on fully charged anionic monomer — 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid sodium salt (AMPS) and cationic monomer — (3-acrylamidopropyl)trimethylammonium chloride (APTAC) in aqueous-salt solutions, swelling and mechanical properties. In the present paper we report the applicability of salt tolerant amphoter-ic terpolymers composed of AMPS, APTAC and acrylamide (AAm) in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The amphoteric terpolymers of different compositions, particularly [AAm]:[AMPS]:[APTAC] = 50:25:25; 60:20:20; 70:15:15; 80:10:10 and 90:5:5 mol.% were prepared by free-radical polymerization, identified and their viscosifying ability with respect to reservoir saline water (salinity is 163 g⋅L-1) at 60 °C was tested. It was found that due to polyampholytic nature, the AAm-AMPS-APTAC terpolymers exhibited improved viscosifying behavior at high salinity water. As a result, the appropriate salt tolerant sample [AAm]:[AMPS]:[APTAC] = 80:10:10 mol.% was selected for polymer flooding experiments. Polymer flood-ing experiments on high permeable sand pack model demonstrated that only 0.5 % oil was recovered by am-photeric terpolymer. While injection of polyampholyte solution into preliminarily water flooded core sample resulted in the increase of oil recovery up to 4.8–5 %. These results show that under certain conditions the amphoteric terpolymers have a decent oil displacement ability.

scholarly journals SURFACTANT-POLYMER FLOODING PERFORMANCE IN HETEROGENEOUS TWO-LAYERED POROUS MEDIA

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Taufiq Fathaddin ◽  
Asri Nugrahanti ◽  
Putri Nurizatulshira Buang ◽  
Khaled Abdalla Elraies
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Polymer Flooding ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Oil Saturation ◽  
Reservoir Heterogeneity ◽  
Residual Oil Saturation ◽  
Layered Porous Media ◽  
Multiple Porosity

In this paper, simulation study was conducted to investigate the effect of spatial heterogeneity of multiple porosity fields on oil recovery, residual oil and microemulsion saturation. The generated porosity fields were applied into UTCHEM for simulating surfactant-polymer flooding in heterogeneous two-layered porous media. From the analysis, surfactant-polymer flooding was more sensitive than water flooding to the spatial distribution of multiple porosity fields. Residual oil saturation in upper and lower layers after water and polymer flooding was about the same with the reservoir heterogeneity. On the other hand, residual oil saturation in the two layers after surfactant-polymer flooding became more unequal as surfactant concentration increased. Surfactant-polymer flooding had higher oil recovery than water and polymer flooding within the range studied. The variation of oil recovery due to the reservoir heterogeneity was under 9.2%.

Labortory and Pilot Tests of Enhanced Oil Recovery through Wettability Alteration by Diluted Microemulsions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xurong Zhao ◽  
Tianbo Liang ◽  
Jingge Zan ◽  
Mengchuan Zhang ◽  
Fujian Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Rock Surface ◽  
Core Flooding ◽  
Fracturing Fluid ◽  
Invasion Front ◽  
Wetting Ability ◽  
On Line ◽  
Wet Rocks

Abstract Replacing oil from small pores of tight oil-wet rocks relies on altering the rock wettability with the injected fracturing fluid. Among different types of wettability-alteration surfactants, the liquid nanofluid has less adsorption loss during transport in the porous media, and can efficiently alter the rock wettability; meanwhile, it can also maintain a certain oil-water interfacial tension driving the water imbibition. In the previous study, the main properties of a Nonionic nanofluid-diluted microemulsion (DME) were evaluated, and the dispersion coefficient and adsorption rate of DME in tight rock under different conditions were quantified. In this study, to more intuitively show the change of wettability of DME to oil-wet rocks in the process of core flooding experiments and the changes of the water invasion front, CT is used to carry out on-line core flooding experiments, scan and calculate the water saturation in time, and compare it with the pressure drop in this process. Besides, the heterogeneity of rock samples is quantified in this paper. The results show that when the DME is used as the fracturing fluid additive, fingering of the water phase is observed at the beginning of the invasion; compared with brine, the fracturing fluid with DME has deeper invasion depth at the same time; the water invasion front gradually becomes uniform when the DME alters the rock wettability and triggers the imbibition; for tight rocks, DME can enter deeper pores and replace more oil because of its dominance. Finally, the selected nanofluids of DME were tested in two horizontal wells in the field, and their flowback fluids were collected and analyzed. The results show that the average droplet size of the flowback fluids in the wells using DME decreases with production time, and the altered wetting ability gradually returns to the level of the injected fracturing fluid. It can be confirmed that DME can migrate within the tight rock, make the rock surface more water-wet and enhance the imbibition capacity of the fracturing fluid, to reduce the reservoir pressure decline rate and increase production.

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