Effect of Salts on Interfacial Tension and CO 2 Mass Transfer in Carbonated Water Injection

Aly A Hamouda and Nikhil Bagalkot
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Aly A Hamouda: Department of Petroleum Technology, University of Stavanger, Stavanger 4035, Norway
Nikhil Bagalkot: Department of Petroleum Technology, University of Stavanger, Stavanger 4035, Norway

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Carbonated water injection (CWI) is a promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and CO 2 sequestration method, which overcomes the problems associated with CO 2 EOR. CO 2 mass transfer and interfacial tension (IFT) are important parameters that influence oil recovery efficiency. This study addresses the impact of MgCl 2 and Na 2 SO 4 in carbonated water (CW) on CW/hydrocarbon IFT and CO 2 mass transfer. An axisymmetric drop shape analysis was used to estimate the IFT and the CO 2 diffusion coefficient. It was found that CW+MgCl 2 reduced both the CW/n-decane IFT (36.5%) and CO 2 mass transfer, while CW+Na 2 SO 4 increased both the IFT and CO 2 mass transfer (57%). It is suggested that reduction in IFT for CW+MgCl 2 brine is mainly due to the higher hydration energy of Mg 2+ . The Mg 2+ ion forms a tight bond to the first hydration shell [Mg(H 2 O) 6 ] 2+ , this increases the effective size at the interface, hence reduce IFT. Meanwhile, the SO 4 2− outer hydration shell has free OH groups, which may locally promote CO 2 mass transfer. The study illustrates the potential of combining salts and CW in enhancing CO 2 mass transfer that can be the base for further investigations. Furthermore, the contribution and proposed mechanisms of the different ions (SO 4 2− and Mg 2+ ) to the physical process in carbonated water/hydrocarbon have been addressed, which forms one of primary bases of EOR.

Keywords: CO 2 +brine; interfacial tension; carbonated water; CO 2 diffusion coefficient; synthetic sea water (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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