Evaluation of Surfactant Mixture for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Foamed Acid in Carbonate Matrix Acidizing

Rachmi Kartini, Youngmin Kim and Wonsuk Lee
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Rachmi Kartini: Department of Petroleum Resources Technology, University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Korea
Youngmin Kim: Petroleum and Marine Research Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon 34132, Korea
Wonsuk Lee: Petroleum and Marine Research Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon 34132, Korea

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-18

Abstract: The effectiveness of matrix acidizing using CO 2 foamed acid is dependent on the duration of foam stability. This paper presents a supercritical CO 2 foamed acid with a surfactant mixture to improve the foam stability in carbonate matrix acidizing. The experimental apparatus was developed to conduct foam-stability and wormhole-propagation tests under high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) conditions. The foam decay times of five types of surfactants were measured under atmospheric conditions. Trimax (blend of cocamidopropyl betaine, disodium cocoamphodiacetate, and amine oxide) and Aromox C/12W (coco bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) amine oxide) had a high foam decay time. The surfactant mixture was prepared using these two surfactants. The foam stability tests of the surfactant mixture were performed according to the HCl concentration, surfactant mixing ratio, and injection rate of HCl under HPHT conditions. As a result, the foam stability could be improved by adding an HCl concentration of 20% to the surfactant mixture. Wormhole-propagation tests were performed using Indiana and Indonesian limestones. Because of the supercritical CO 2 foamed acid injection, dominant wormholes were formed in all the core samples; thus, the absolute permeabilities significantly increased. The results of the scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and thin-section analyses revealed that the number of large pores with pore sizes of ≥0.5 mm increased by the injection of CO 2 foamed acid. Therefore, the supercritical CO 2 foamed acid with the surfactant mixture exhibited a high efficiency of matrix acidizing in carbonate reservoirs.

Keywords: matrix acidizing; supercritical CO 2 foamed acid; surfactant mixture; foam stability; carbonate reservoir (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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