Evaluating the Effect of Carbonate Impurities on Wettability Alteration Using a Geochemical Model

Abstract

Abstract Wettability alteration considered as the principal mechanism has attracted more attention for low salinity waterflooding effect. It was significantly affected by electrokinetic interactions, which occurred at the interfaces of rock/brine and crude oil/brine. The mineral impurities of natural carbonate releasing ions have an important impact on the electrokinetics, which could lead to wettability shift subsequently. In this study, the effect of dolomite and anhydrite as the main impurities in natural carbonate, which caused wettability alteration, was evaluated using triple-layer surface complexation and thermodynamic equilibrium models coupled with extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory. The electrokinetics of crude oil and carbonate in brines were predicted by the triple-layer surface complexation model (TLM) based on zeta potential, while thermodynamic equilibrium model was mainly used for analyzing the carbonate impurities on wettability alteration. The equilibrium constants of reactions were determined by successfully fitting the calculated zeta potentials with measured ones for crude oil and carbonate in different solutions, which were validated for zeta potential prediction in smartwater. The disjoining pressure results show that there is a repulsion between crude oil and carbonate in Na2SO4 brine (Brine3) or smartwater (Brine4) equilibrating with calcite when comparing to that in MgCl2 (Brine1) and CaCl2 (Brine2), indicating the water-wet condition caused by the presence of sulphate ions. Moreover, the equilibrium of carbonate impurities with smartwater increases the repulsion between oil and carbonate. When the sulphate ion concentration in the adjusted smartwater exceeds a certain value, the effect of carbonate impurities on wettability alteration is not significant. Finally, the influence of smartwater pH on the interaction between oil and carbonate was evaluated with or without considering the equilibrium of carbonate impurities.