Role of Monovalent and Divalent Ions in Low-Salinity Water Flood in Carbonate Reservoirs: An Integrated Analysis through Zeta Potentiometric and Simulation Studies

Paras H. Gopani, Navpreet Singh, Hemanta K. Sarma, Padmaja Mattey and Vivek R. Srivastava
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Paras H. Gopani: Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Navpreet Singh: Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Hemanta K. Sarma: Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Padmaja Mattey: Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd., Ahmedabad 380005, India
Vivek R. Srivastava: Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd., Ahmedabad 380005, India

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: The presence of principal ions in the water injected is essential for enhanced oil recovery by formation of water-wet state in carbonates. This study reaffirms this and presents an evaluation of the positive influence of both divalent as wells as monovalent ions on wettability alteration mechanisms during low salinity waterflooding using brines of varying ionic composition, referred to as “smart brines”. Zeta potentiometric analysis and reservoir simulation studies were conducted with diluted and smart brines that were prepared by varying the composition of principal ions. Surface charge of oil-saturated whole core samples of rock in the presence of various diluted and smart brines was estimated by zeta potential measurements. A comprehensive analysis of zeta potentiometric and reservoir simulation studies was done to establish and investigate the linkage between the recovery mechanism and the incremental recovery achieved. It is noted that zeta potential increases with the increasing level of dilution and it can be attributed to electric double-layer mechanism. On the contrary, simulation studies implied a different mechanism where an increase in effluent’s pH and Ca 2+ mole fraction along with decrease in moles of minerals and saturation index implied rock dissolution was dominant mechanism. Moreover, the effect of mineral dissolution beyond the injection block is highly doubtful. This study demonstrates that an integrated approach from both zeta potentiometric and simulation studies can be used to provide insights into the underlying science of interactions at pore scale during a low salinity waterflood using smart brines. With the aid of an adequately designed upscaling procedure and protocol, the laboratory results can be further used towards developing field-scale models to obtain with realistic recovery factors with optimized brine composition and salinity.

Keywords: low-salinity water flood; zeta potential; electric double layer; reservoir simulation; Potential Determining Ions; carbonates (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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