An experimental investigation into enhancing oil recovery using smart water combined with anionic and cationic surfactants in carbonate reservoir

Mofrad, Shahla Kaabi; Dehaghani, Amir Hossein Saeedi

doi:10.1016/j.egyr.2020.02.034

Cited by 32 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…With increasing surfactant concentration, IFT initially decreased which might be due to the fact that surfactant molecules at a lower concentration tends to adsorb at the oil− water interface. 41,51,52 At 0.1 wt % surfactant, IFT was measured to be around 20 mN/m and with 0.2 wt %, this value was further reduced to ∼10 mN/m. An IFT value of 10 mN/m at 0.2 wt % was found to be the minimum as thereafter, IFT exhibited a constant trend and barely showed any variation till the concentration of the surfactant was explored (0.5 wt %).…”

Section: Ift Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosurfactant Derived from Fenugreek Seeds and Its Impact on Wettability Alteration, Oil Recovery, and Effluent Treatment of a Rock System of Mixed Composition

et al. 2023

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Surfactant flooding is a method practiced for chemically enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to pursue oil displacement efficiency by lowering the interfacial tension and changing the wettability. However, the application of natural surfactants in oil recovery is an effective way to reduce surfactant adsorption in porous media. Thus, this study gives insight into saponin derived from fenugreek seed as a natural surfactant and utilized for oil recovery into different porous and permeable rock matrixes that consist of sandstone, carbonate, and their conjugates in varying concentrations. The natural surfactant was found to be effective at low concentrations based on its interfacial tension (IFT) value (10 mN/m at CMC 0.2 wt %). The natural surfactant solution profile exhibited shear-thinning behavior at ambient and high temperature conditions. The results of ultraviolet−visible (UV−vis) absorbance from the findings also reveal reduced adsorption on the carbonate surface and proven potential to affect the rock wettability during oil recovery. However, 58% of OOIP oil recovery was achieved in sandstone, which was higher than the recovery in carbonate rock (50% of OOIP) and conjugate rock systems (57% of OOIP). In line with this study, a novel mechanism for the treatment of effluent produced during oil recovery was found. The mechanism for effluent treatment is a combination of gravity segregation and heat treatment. Additionally, the heat treatment mechanism for effluent treatment was found to be one of the effective techniques in this study, and a maximum oil recovery of 4.2 (sandstone), 3.4 (carbonate), and 3.9 (conjugate rock) % OOIP was achieved. The findings of this study thus conclude an important outlook for surfactant flooding using natural surfactant derived from agro-products like fenugreek and highlights the potential of natural, economical, and eco-friendly surfactants.

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Section: Ift Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosurfactant Derived from Fenugreek Seeds and Its Impact on Wettability Alteration, Oil Recovery, and Effluent Treatment of a Rock System of Mixed Composition

et al. 2023

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“…Mofrad and Dehaghani evaluated a combination of smart water with SDS anionic and CTAB cationic surfactants for oil recovery using a heterogeneous five-spot carbonate oil-wet glass micromodel. The model was designed to resemble carbonate reservoir rocks located in southwest Iran.…”

Section: Surfactant-based Oil Recovery Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oil Recovery Performance by Surfactant Flooding: A Perspective on Multiscale Evaluation Methods

et al. 2022

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Chemical-enhanced oil recovery (cEOR) is a class of techniques commonly used to extract hydrocarbon fluids from reservoir rocks beyond conventional waterflooding. Surfactants are among the chemical agents employed in a cEOR process, as they aid in enhancing oil recovery by lowering the oil–water interfacial tension (IFT) and altering the rock wettability toward less oil-wet conditions. Understanding the flow characteristics and mechanisms involved during surfactant flooding helps improve the performance of injected surfactants and results in higher oil recovery. The objective of this review is to outline the recent applications of the different methods employed to understand the behavior and mechanisms involved during surfactant-enhanced oil recovery. The review begins with a general background highlighting the basic characteristics of surfactants and the main mechanisms by which they exert their influence. Recent studies conducted to investigate the oil recovery performance through different methods are then presented, including traditional coreflooding experiments, microfluidics studies, and oil recovery through sand packs. The methodology of the analysis and the interpretation of the data obtained from the different oil recovery tests, including oil recovery factor, pressure data, and relative permeability, are also described. Pore-scale analysis and imaging methods including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and X-ray medical and microcomputed tomography (μCT) scanning and their applicability in assessing the recovery performance are described. Finally, a few examples of field monitoring methods for surfactant flooding are highlighted. This review provides knowledge of the different multiscale evaluation methods and their applicability during surfactant flooding.

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“…Next, the picture of micromodel was taken by a camera at constant time intervals to measure the oil recovery factor. Before each flooding test, the micromodel was made oil-wet by the following procedure (Mofrad and Saeedi Dehaghani 2020):…”

Section: Flooding Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of ion-engineered Persian Gulf seawater in EOR: effects of different ions on interfacial tension, contact angle, zeta potential, and oil recovery

Dehaghani

Elyaderani

2021

Pet. Sci.

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In this study, we initially performed interfacial tension (IFT) tests to investigate the potential of using the Persian Gulf seawater (PGSW) as smart water with different concentrations of NaCl, KCl, MgCl2, CaCl2, and Na2SO4. Next, for each salt, at the concentration where IFT was minimum, we conducted contact angle, zeta potential, and micromodel flooding tests. The results showed that IFT is minimized if NaCl or KCl is removed from PGSW; thus, for solutions lacking NaCl and KCl, the IFT values were obtained at 26.29 and 26.56 mN/m, respectively. Conversely, in the case of divalent ions, minimum IFT occurred when the concentration of MgCl2, CaCl2, and Na2SO4 in PGSW increased. Specifically, a threefold rise in the concentration of Na2SO4 further reduced IFT as compared to optimal concentrations of MgCl2 or CaCl2. It should be mentioned that eliminating NaCl from PGSW resulted in the lowest IFT value compared to adding or removing other ions. Whereas the removal of NaCl caused the contact angle to decrease from 91.0° to 67.8° relative to PGSW and changed surface wettability to weakly water-wet, eliminating KCl did not considerably change the contact angle, such that it only led to a nine-degree reduction in this angle relative to PGSW and left wettability in the same neutral-wet condition. At optimal concentrations of MgCl2, CaCl2, and Na2SO4, only an increase in Na2SO4 concentration in PGSW could change wettability from neutral-wet to weakly water-wet. For solutions with optimal concentrations, the removal of NaCl or KCl caused the rock surface to have slightly higher negative charges, and increasing the concentration of divalent ions led to a small reduction in the negative charge of the surface. The results of micromodel flooding indicated that NaCl-free PGSW could raise oil recovery by 10.12% relative to PGSW. Furthermore, when the Na2SO4 concentration in PGSW was tripled, the oil recovery increased by 7.34% compared to PGSW. Accordingly, depending on the conditions, it is possible to use PGSW so as to enhance the efficiency of oil recovery by removing NaCl or by increasing the concentration of Na2SO4 three times.

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An experimental investigation into enhancing oil recovery using smart water combined with anionic and cationic surfactants in carbonate reservoir

Cited by 32 publications

References 22 publications

Biosurfactant Derived from Fenugreek Seeds and Its Impact on Wettability Alteration, Oil Recovery, and Effluent Treatment of a Rock System of Mixed Composition

Biosurfactant Derived from Fenugreek Seeds and Its Impact on Wettability Alteration, Oil Recovery, and Effluent Treatment of a Rock System of Mixed Composition

Oil Recovery Performance by Surfactant Flooding: A Perspective on Multiscale Evaluation Methods

Application of ion-engineered Persian Gulf seawater in EOR: effects of different ions on interfacial tension, contact angle, zeta potential, and oil recovery

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