Experimental Investigation of Acidic Medium Effect on Seawater and Low Salinity Water for Wettability Alteration and Interfacial Tension Reduction: The Presence of Divalent and Trivalent Cations

Parvizshahi, Nazanin; Saeedi Dehaghani, AmirHossein

Experimental Investigation of Acidic Medium Effect on Seawater and Low Salinity Water for Wettability Alteration and Interfacial Tension Reduction: The Presence of Divalent and Trivalent Cations

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

N. parvizshahi ¹

A. Saeedi Dehaghani ²

¹ Master's Student at Tarbiat Modares University

² Associate Professor of Petroleum Department, Tarbiat Modares University

Abstract

Research Subject: In recent years, smart water flooding has gained attention regarding enhanced oil recovery, and one of its driving mechanisms is wettability alteration. However, the effect of acid presence on smart water performance needs to be clarified. Thus, the main question is whether the presence of acid and potential determining ions can lead to further wettability alteration and interfacial tension (IFT) reduction. Additionally, in this study, trivalent cations were added to smart water for the first time, and the results were compared with those of divalent cations.

Research approach: In this study, seawater (SW), 4-times diluted SW, and 8-times diluted SW were prepared in distilled water, 0.001 normal HCl and 0.01 normal HCl, and the contact angle and IFT experiments were carried out. In addition, concentrations of Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, and Fe³⁺ were adjusted in 8-times diluted SW prepared in 0.01 normal HCl, and the IFT and contact angle tests were conducted.

Main Results: The results showed that the presence of acid in distilled water could decrease the IFT values; however, it did have a marginal effect on contact angle reduction. Also, because of synergistic effects between acid and potential determining ions, IFT significantly declined. While adding acid to brines with different salinities resulted in contact angle reduction, the glass surface remained oil-wet. Regarding divalent and trivalent cations, the results revealed that increasing Fe³⁺ concentration in smart water made the glass surface water-wet. However, adjusting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ concentrations changed the wettability from oil-wet to neutral-wet. Moreover, divalent and trivalent cations showed similar behavior in IFT reduction, and a four-times increase in the concentration of each mentioned ion reduced IFT by about 2 mN/m.

Keywords

Smart water

Acid

Interfacial tension

Wettability alteration

Trivalent cation

Subjects

enhanced oil recovery

[1] Selby, R., Alikhan, A. A., & Ali, S. M. F. (1989). Potential Of Non-Thermal Methods For Heavy Oil Recovery. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 28(04). https://doi.org/10.2118/89-04-02
[2] Mai, A., Bryan, J., Goodarzi, N., & Kantzas, A. (2009). Insights Into Non-Thermal Recovery of Heavy Oil. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 48(03), 27–35. https://doi.org/10.2118/09-03-27
[3] Chen, Y., Xie, Q., Pu, W., & Saeedi, A. (2018). Drivers of pH increase and implications for low salinity effect in sandstone. Fuel, 218, 112–117. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2018.01.037
[4] Sagbana, P. I., Sarkodie, K., & Nkrumah, W. A. (2022). A critical review of carbonate reservoir wettability modification during low salinity waterflooding. Petroleum. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petlm.2022.01.006
[5] Tajikmansori, A., Hossein Saeedi Dehaghani, A., & Haghighi, M. (2022). Improving chemical composition of smart water by investigating performance of active cations for injection in carbonate Reservoirs: A mechanistic study. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 348, 118043. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2021.118043
[6] Saeedi Dehaghani, A. H., & Ghalamizade Elyaderani, S. M. (2021). Application of ion-engineered Persian Gulf seawater in EOR: effects of different ions on interfacial tension, contact angle, zeta potential, and oil recovery. Petroleum Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12182-020-00541-y
[7] Salehi, N., Saeedi Dehaghani, A., & Haghighi, M. (2023). Investigation of fluid-fluid interaction between surfactant-ion-tuned water and crude oil: A new insight into asphaltene behavior in the emulsion interface. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 376, 121311. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2023.121311

[8] Tajikmansori, A., Hosseini, M., & Dehaghani, A. H. S. (2021). Mechanistic study to investigate the injection of surfactant assisted smart water in carbonate rocks for enhanced oil recovery: An experimental approach. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 325, 114648. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2020.114648
[9] Saeedi Dehaghani, A. H., & Badizad, M. H. (2019). Impact of ionic composition on modulating wetting preference of calcite surface: Implication for chemically tuned water flooding. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 568, 470–480. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2019.02.009
[10] Ghalamizade Elyaderani, S. M., Saeedi Dehaghani, A. H., & Razavinezhad, J. (2023). Tuned Low-Salinity Waterflooding in Carbonate Reservoirs: Impact of Cr2O72-, C6H5COO-, and SO42-. SPE Journal, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.2118/214299-PA
[11] Al-Nofli, K., Pourafshary, P., Mosavat, N., & Shafiei, A. (2018). Effect of Initial Wettability on Performance of Smart Water Flooding in Carbonate Reservoirs—An Experimental Investigation with IOR Implications. Energies 2018, Vol. 11, Page 1394, 11(6), 1394. https://doi.org/10.3390/EN11061394
[12] Sohal, M. A., Thyne, G., & Søgaard, E. G. (2016). Review of Recovery Mechanisms of Ionically Modified Waterflood in Carbonate Reservoirs. Energy & Fuels, 30(3), 1904–1914. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5b02749
[13] Mahmoudvand, M., Javadi, A., & Pourafshary, P. (2019). Brine ions impacts on water-oil dynamic interfacial properties considering asphaltene and maltene constituents. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 579, 123665.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2019.123665
[14] Sagbana, P. I., Sarkodie, K., & Nkrumah, W. A. (2022). A critical review of carbonate reservoir wettability modification during low salinity waterflooding. Petroleum. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petlm.2022.01.006
[15] Mahani, H., Keya, A. L., Berg, S., Bartels, W. B., Nasralla, R., & Rossen, W. R. (2015). Insights into the mechanism of wettability alteration by low-salinity flooding (LSF) in carbonates. Energy and Fuels, 29(3), 1352–1367. https://doi.org/10.1021/EF5023847/SUPPL_FILE/EF5023847_SI_001.PDF
[16] Liu, F., & Wang, M. (2020). Review of low salinity waterflooding mechanisms: Wettability alteration and its impact on oil recovery. Fuel, 267, 117112. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2020.117112
[17] Sharma, H., & Mohanty, K. K. (2018). An experimental and modeling study to investigate brine-rock interactions during low salinity water flooding in carbonates. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 165, 1021–1039. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2017.11.052
[18] Saw, R. K., & Mandal, A. (2020). A mechanistic investigation of low salinity water flooding coupled with ion tuning for enhanced oil recovery. RSC Advances, 10(69), 42570–42583. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA08301A
[19] Honarvar, B., Rahimi, A., Safari, M., Rezaee, S., & Karimi, M. (2020). Favorable attributes of low salinity water aided alkaline on crude oil-brine-carbonate rock system. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 585, 124144. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2019.124144
[20] Gandomkar, A., & Rahimpour, M. R. (2017). The impact of monovalent and divalent ions on wettability alteration in oil/low salinity brine/limestone systems. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 248, 1003–1013. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2017.10.095
[21] Ghalamizade Elyaderani, S. M., Jafari, A., & Razavinezhad, J. (2019). Experimental Investigation of Mechanisms in Functionalized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Flooding for Enhancing the Recovery From Heavy-Oil Reservoirs. SPE Journal. https://doi.org/10.2118/194499-PA
[22] Ghalamizade Elyaderani, S. M., & Jafari, A. (2020). Investigation of interactions between silica nanoparticle, alkaline, and polymer in micromodel flooding for enhanced oil recovery. Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2020.1811428
[23] Moosavi, S. R., Rayhani, M., Malayeri, M. R., & Riazi, M. (2019). Impact of monovalent and divalent cationic and anionic ions on wettability alteration of dolomite rocks. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 281, 9–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MOLLIQ.2019.02.078
[24] Xu, P., Wang, H., Tong, R., Du, Q., & Zhong, W. (2006). Preparation and morphology of SiO2/PMMA nanohybrids by microemulsion polymerization. Colloid and Polymer Science, 284(7), 755–762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-005-1428-9
[25] Farhadi, H., Ayatollahi, S., & Fatemi, M. (2021). The effect of brine salinity and oil components on dynamic IFT behavior of oil-brine during low salinity water flooding: Diffusion coefficient, EDL establishment time, and IFT reduction rate. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 196, 107862. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2020.107862
[26] Lashkarbolooki, M., Ayatollahi, S., & Riazi, M. (2017). Mechanistical study of effect of ions in smart water injection into carbonate oil reservoir. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 105, 361–372. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2016.11.022