Experimental investigation on the effect of interfacial properties of chemical flooding for enhanced heavy oil recovery

Cao, Han; Li, Yiqiang; Gao, Wenbin; Cao, Jinxin; Sun, Bingyu; Zhang, Jin

doi:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2023.132335

Cited by 16 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…For example, recent microfluidic experiments have found the presence of a thick interfacial layer of heavy oil adhered to the rock surface even after several volumes of water flooding. 51 The observation corroborates with our previous study 31 where high adhesion energy between heavy oil and rock surface was observed, which was studied using the same force field parameters. Also, the study of Sharma and Filoco 52 found no significant change in DOD recovery from the sandstone reservoir with a change in water salinity, the mechanism of which was predicted in our previous MD study 36 where DOD structure and energetics near silica surface were investigated using same force fields.…”

Section: Forcefields Used and Theirsupporting

confidence: 91%

Computational Study of Asphaltene Adsorption on Carbonate Surface: Role of Molecular Structure and Oil Phase

Badwaik,

Chobe,

Malani

2024

Energy Fuels

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Asphaltene deposition on mineral surfaces poses significant challenges for the oil industry, impacting the extraction efficiency of fluids, affecting rock wettability, and causing formation damage. The presence of these heavy molecules in crude oil also causes the fouling of equipment and catalyst deactivation. Therefore, the molecular-level understanding of the asphaltene molecules (AM)–surface interactions is crucial in designing novel, site-specific chemical agents for asphaltene removal. In this study, we used molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the adsorption behavior of five different AMs (both island- and archipelago-type) on the calcite surface in a dodecane solvent. Using umbrella sampling, we obtained the potential of mean force of AMs, calculated the adsorption–desorption barriers, and performed structural and energetic analysis in detail. In contrast to common observation, we found that not all AMs exhibit preferential adsorption on the surface; instead, the AM with phenolic and pyrrolic functional groups were only found to adsorb, while those with thiophenic and quinoline functional groups faced barriers to adsorption. AM preferentially adsorbs over the calcium ions of the surface, facilitated by the strong heteroatom–surface interactions and supported by the hydrogen bond interactions. Further, the AMs compete with the solvent molecules for adsorption onto the surface, and those AMs that have a higher effective configurational energy get adsorbed. The interaction energy of AMs with the system is independent of the aromatic size, polarity-dependent on heteroatom, and linearly dependent on the aliphatic size. These detailed insights into the role of various parts of AM in its adsorption onto the mineral surface will facilitate the design of solvents and sorbents for effective asphaltene removal.

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Section: Forcefields Used and Theirsupporting

confidence: 91%

Computational Study of Asphaltene Adsorption on Carbonate Surface: Role of Molecular Structure and Oil Phase

Badwaik,

Chobe,

Malani

2024

Energy Fuels

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“…In order to change the current situation of high water cut in oil wells and improve oil recovery, reasonable measures must be taken to control the high permeability channels between oil and water wells [9,10]. The chemical flooding method [11][12][13][14] is widely used in oilfields to improve oil recovery because it can improve water-oil mobility [15,16] and reduce oil-water interfacial tension [15,17,18]. It is an effective and widely used method to solve the problem of high water cut and low recovery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the Adaptability Evaluation of Micro-Dispersed-Gel-Strengthened-Alkali-Compound System and the Production Mechanism of Crude Oil

Wang,

Wu,

Liu

et al. 2024

Processes

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A novel micro-dispersed-gel (MDG)-strengthened-alkali-compound flooding system was proposed for enhanced oil recovery in high-water-cut mature oilfields. Micro-dispersed gel has different adaptability and application schemes with sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide. The MDG-strengthened-alkali flooding system can reduce the interfacial tension to an ultra-low interfacial-tension level of 10−2 mN/m, which can reverse the wettability of rock surface. After 30 days aging, the MDG-strengthened-Na2CO3 flooding system has good viscosity retention of 74.5%, with an emulsion stability of 79.13%. The enhanced-oil-recovery ability of the MDG-strengthened-Na2CO3 (MDGSC) flooding system is 43.91%, which is slightly weaker than the 47.78% of the MDG-strengthened-NaOH (MDGSH) flooding system. The crude-oil-production mechanism of the two systems is different, but they all show excellent performance in enhanced oil recovery. The MDGSC flooding system mainly regulates and seals micro-fractures, forcing subsequent injected water to enter the low-permeability area, and it has the ability to wash the remaining oil in micro-fractures. The MDGSH flooding system mainly removes the remaining oil on the rock wall surface in the micro-fractures by efficient washing, and the MDG particles can also form weak plugging of the micro-fractures. The MDG-strengthened-alkali flooding system can be used as an alternative to enhance oil recovery in high-water-cut and highly heterogeneous mature oilfields.

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“…With the increasing demand for energy, petroleum exploration is moving toward deep and ultradeep wells, making the development more challenging. − The development of high-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs is becoming more prominent. In these reservoirs, chemical agents play a crucial role. − , Surfactants, as one of the chemical agents, can effectively enhance oil recovery by reducing the interfacial tension between oil and water and improving the wettability of the rock surfaces. − …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compound Anionic–Nonionic Surfactant System with Excellent Temperature and Salt Resistance for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Li,

Liu,

Jin

et al. 2023

Energy Fuels

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The development of a temperature- and salt-resistant surfactant system is of great significance in enhanced oil recovery. In this study, two anionic–nonionic surfactants, alkylphenol polyoxyethylene ether carboxylate sodium-10Na (APEC-10Na) and fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether carboxylate sodium-9Na (AEC-9Na), were applied to construct a compound surfactant system. When the total concentration was 0.3% and the mass ratio of APEC-10Na to AEC-9Na was 7:3, the compound system could reduce the interfacial tension between oil and water to 8.1 × 10–2 mN·m–1, which could be attributed to the dense arrangement of the surfactant molecules in the interface. The system can resist temperatures up to 110 °C and tolerate a monovalent salt concentration of 18 × 104 mg L–1 and a divalent salt concentration of 8 × 103 mg L–1. The compound surfactant system can modify the rock surface wettability from strong hydrophobicity to strong hydrophilicity, with an underwater–oil contact angle reaching 132.4° for the treated rock surface. The oil film peeling rate of the compound system is 73.4%, which is 29.2% higher than that of the commercial system and 41% higher than that of the formation water. The oil recovery rate of the compound system in core displacement experiments is 61.7%, which is 4.8% higher than that of the commercial system and 14% higher than that of the formation water. The compound surfactant system proposed in this work not only achieved low interfacial tension under high-temperature and high-salinity conditions but also realized effective interface wettability regulation, sufficient stripping of adhered oil films, and promotion of oil droplet migration, providing guidance in designing compound surfactant system for the efficient development of high-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs.

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Experimental investigation on the effect of interfacial properties of chemical flooding for enhanced heavy oil recovery

Cited by 16 publications

References 42 publications

Computational Study of Asphaltene Adsorption on Carbonate Surface: Role of Molecular Structure and Oil Phase

Computational Study of Asphaltene Adsorption on Carbonate Surface: Role of Molecular Structure and Oil Phase

Study on the Adaptability Evaluation of Micro-Dispersed-Gel-Strengthened-Alkali-Compound System and the Production Mechanism of Crude Oil

Compound Anionic–Nonionic Surfactant System with Excellent Temperature and Salt Resistance for Enhanced Oil Recovery

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