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Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals

The injection of low-salinity brine enhances oil recovery by altering the mineral wettability in carbonate reservoirs. However, the reported effectiveness of low-salinity water varies significantly in the literature, and the underlying mechanism of wettability alteration is controversial. In this wo...

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Autores principales: Song, Jin, Rezaee, Sara, Guo, Wenhua, Hernandez, Brianna, Puerto, Maura, Vargas, Francisco M., Hirasaki, George J., Biswal, Sibani L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7048854/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32111861
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60106-2
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author Song, Jin
Rezaee, Sara
Guo, Wenhua
Hernandez, Brianna
Puerto, Maura
Vargas, Francisco M.
Hirasaki, George J.
Biswal, Sibani L.
author_facet Song, Jin
Rezaee, Sara
Guo, Wenhua
Hernandez, Brianna
Puerto, Maura
Vargas, Francisco M.
Hirasaki, George J.
Biswal, Sibani L.
author_sort Song, Jin
collection PubMed
description The injection of low-salinity brine enhances oil recovery by altering the mineral wettability in carbonate reservoirs. However, the reported effectiveness of low-salinity water varies significantly in the literature, and the underlying mechanism of wettability alteration is controversial. In this work, we investigate the relationships between characteristics of crude oils and the oils’ response to low-salinity water in a spontaneous imbibition test, aiming (1) to identify suitable indicators of the effectiveness of low-salinity water and (2) to evaluate possible mechanisms of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration, including rock/oil charge repulsion and microdispersion formation. Seven oils are tested by spontaneous imbibition and fully characterized in terms of their acidity, zeta potential, interfacial tension, microdispersion propensity, water-soluble organics content and saturate-aromatic-resin-asphaltene fractionation. For the first time, the effectiveness of low-salinity water is found to positively correlate with the oil interfacial tension in low-salinity water. Oils with higher interfacial activity are found to respond more positively to low-salinity water. Moreover, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy images suggest that microdispersion is essentially macroemulsion, and its formation is an effective indicator – but not the root cause – of wettability alteration. The repulsive zeta potential for the rock and the oil in low-salinity water is found to be an insufficient condition for wettability alteration in carbonate minerals.
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spelling pubmed-70488542020-03-06 Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals Song, Jin Rezaee, Sara Guo, Wenhua Hernandez, Brianna Puerto, Maura Vargas, Francisco M. Hirasaki, George J. Biswal, Sibani L. Sci Rep Article The injection of low-salinity brine enhances oil recovery by altering the mineral wettability in carbonate reservoirs. However, the reported effectiveness of low-salinity water varies significantly in the literature, and the underlying mechanism of wettability alteration is controversial. In this work, we investigate the relationships between characteristics of crude oils and the oils’ response to low-salinity water in a spontaneous imbibition test, aiming (1) to identify suitable indicators of the effectiveness of low-salinity water and (2) to evaluate possible mechanisms of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration, including rock/oil charge repulsion and microdispersion formation. Seven oils are tested by spontaneous imbibition and fully characterized in terms of their acidity, zeta potential, interfacial tension, microdispersion propensity, water-soluble organics content and saturate-aromatic-resin-asphaltene fractionation. For the first time, the effectiveness of low-salinity water is found to positively correlate with the oil interfacial tension in low-salinity water. Oils with higher interfacial activity are found to respond more positively to low-salinity water. Moreover, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy images suggest that microdispersion is essentially macroemulsion, and its formation is an effective indicator – but not the root cause – of wettability alteration. The repulsive zeta potential for the rock and the oil in low-salinity water is found to be an insufficient condition for wettability alteration in carbonate minerals. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC7048854/ /pubmed/32111861 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60106-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Song, Jin
Rezaee, Sara
Guo, Wenhua
Hernandez, Brianna
Puerto, Maura
Vargas, Francisco M.
Hirasaki, George J.
Biswal, Sibani L.
Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals
title Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals
title_full Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals
title_fullStr Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals
title_short Evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals
title_sort evaluating physicochemical properties of crude oil as indicators of low-salinity–induced wettability alteration in carbonate minerals
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7048854/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32111861
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60106-2
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