Abstract
The injection of sulfonated-modified water could be an attractive application as it results in the formation of a mechanically rigid oil-water interface, and hence, possible higher oil recovery in combination with polymer. Therefore, detailed experimental investigation and fluid-flow analysis into porous media are required to understand the possible recovery mechanisms taking place. This paper evaluates the potential influence of low-salt/sulfate-modified water injection in oil recovery using a cross-analyzed approach of coupled microfluidics data and core flooding experiments. Fluid characterization was achieved by detailed rheological characterization focusing on steady shear and in-situ viscosity. Moreover, single and two-phase micromodels and core floods experiments helped to define the behavior of different fluids. Overall, coupling microfluidics, with core flooding experiments, confirmed that fluid-fluid interfacial interaction and wettability alteration are both the key recovery mechanisms for modified-water/low-salt. Finally, a combination of sulfate-modified/low-salinity water, with polymer flood can lead to ~6% extra oil, compared to the combination of polymer flood with synthetic seawater (SSW). The results present an excellent way to make use of micromodels and core experiments as a supporting tool for EOR processes evaluations, assessing fluid-fluid and rock-fluid interactions.
Highlights
Mechanized water flooding has been studied as an enhanced oil recovery technique through sandstone core plugs and field tests [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
ConclusionsThis study facilitates our understanding of the main recovery mechanism for modified water flooding based on sulfate content, and outlines the benefit of using coupled data, obtained from core plugs and micromodel
Understanding of itthe main whether recovery modified water of sulfate-modified water injection is fluid-fluid interfacial interaction or wettability alteration or a from core flooding based on sulfate content, and outlines the benefit of using coupled data, obtained combination of these
Summary
Mechanized water flooding has been studied as an enhanced oil recovery technique through sandstone core plugs and field tests [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Modified-water is designed through the manipulation of injected brine chemistry [1,2,8,9,10]. This manipulation includes, the removal of some specific salts, and the addition of active ions/salts. Such active ions are termed potential determining ions (PDI), which could disturb the established ionic equilibrium of the reservoir and contribute additional oil recovery [11]. Some ions cannot contribute to additional oil recovery termed non-PDI. Researchers report that the removal of non-PDI from injection brines could assist the production of additional oil, if a significant amount of divalent cations are present in the formation brine [2,9,12]
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