Characteristics of Viscoelastic-Surfactant-Induced Wettability Alteration in Porous Media

Kexing Li, Bowen Chen, Wanfen Pu, Xueqi Jing, Chengdong Yuan and Mikhail Varfolomeev
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Kexing Li: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (SWPU), Chengdu 610500, China
Bowen Chen: School of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Wanfen Pu: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (SWPU), Chengdu 610500, China
Xueqi Jing: Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, Sinopec Southwest Branch Company, Chengdu 610041, China
Chengdong Yuan: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (SWPU), Chengdu 610500, China
Mikhail Varfolomeev: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (SWPU), Chengdu 610500, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-13

Abstract: Wettability alteration is one of the most important mechanisms of surfactant flooding. In this work, the combined Amott/USBM (United States Bureau of Mines) method was applied to study the average wettability alteration of initially neutral cores after viscoelastic-surfactant (VES) filtration. The effects of static aging, dynamic aging, VES concentration, filtration flow rate, and pore radius on the alteration of a core’s average wettability were studied. The wettability-alteration trends measured by Amott and USBM were consistent, demonstrating that the overall hydrophilicity of the core was enhanced after VES filtration. The wettability alterations of the core brought about by dynamic aging were more significant than by static aging. The viscoelastic properties of the VES played an important role in altering the wettability. In addition, the ability of the VES to affect the core’s wettability was significantly enhanced when the VES concentration was increased, which was beneficial in increasing VES adsorption on the pore-wall surface, thus altering the overall wettability of the core. Increasing filtration flow rates can destroy those high-viscosity VES aggregates via the higher shear rate. A higher retention of VES makes the core more hydrophilic. The difference in the wettability of cores with different pore radius after VES filtration was not significant. The alteration of average wettability caused by VES in porous media provides a new vision for studying the EOR mechanism of VES.

Keywords: wettability; porous media; viscoelastic surfactant; Amott; USBM (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 complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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