Effect of CO 2 Flooding on the Wettability Evolution of Sand-Stone

Cut Aja Fauziah, Ahmed Al-Yaseri, Emad Al-Khdheeawi, Nilesh Kumar Jha, Hussein Rasool Abid, Stefan Iglauer, Christopher Lagat and Ahmed Barifcani
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Cut Aja Fauziah: Western Australia School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Discipline of Petroleum Engineering, Curtin University, Kensington 6151, Australia
Ahmed Al-Yaseri: Western Australia School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Discipline of Petroleum Engineering, Curtin University, Kensington 6151, Australia
Emad Al-Khdheeawi: Petroleum Technology Department, University of Technology, Baghdad 10071, Iraq
Nilesh Kumar Jha: School of Petroleum Technology, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Raisan, Gandhinagar 382007, India
Hussein Rasool Abid: Western Australia School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Discipline of Petroleum Engineering, Curtin University, Kensington 6151, Australia
Stefan Iglauer: School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup 6027, Australia
Christopher Lagat: Western Australia School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Discipline of Petroleum Engineering, Curtin University, Kensington 6151, Australia
Ahmed Barifcani: Western Australia School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Discipline of Petroleum Engineering, Curtin University, Kensington 6151, Australia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: Wettability is one of the main parameters controlling CO 2 injectivity and the movement of CO 2 plume during geological CO 2 sequestration. Despite significant research efforts, there is still a high uncertainty associated with the wettability of CO 2 /brine/rock systems and how they evolve with CO 2 exposure. This study, therefore, aims to measure the contact angle of sandstone samples with varying clay content before and after laboratory core flooding at different reservoir pressures, of 10 MPa and 15 MPa, and a temperature of 323 K. The samples’ microstructural changes are also assessed to investigate any potential alteration in the samples’ structure due to carbonated water exposure. The results show that the advancing and receding contact angles increased with the increasing pressure for both the Berea and Bandera Gray samples. Moreover, the results indicate that Bandera Gray sandstone has a higher contact angle. The sandstones also turn slightly more hydrophobic after core flooding, indicating that the sandstones become more CO 2 -wet after CO 2 injection. These results suggest that CO 2 flooding leads to an increase in the CO 2 -wettability of sandstone, and thus an increase in vertical CO 2 plume migration and solubility trapping, and a reduction in the residual trapping capacity, especially when extrapolated to more prolonged field-scale injection and exposure times.

Keywords: CO 2 injectivity; wettability; contact angle; sandstone; CO 2 sequestration (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
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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