Mechanistic understanding of water-rock interactions during high-salinity water-flooding of carbonate reservoirs

Author

Pu Han

Abstract

"Chemically tuned water-flooding provides a relatively cheap method of enhanced oil recovery from carbonate and sandstone reservoirs. Several possible recovery mechanisms such as mineral dissolution, multi-component ion exchange, double-layer expansion, adsorption/desorption from rock surface, reduction in interfacial tension, and fines migration that have been proposed are widely debated. The combination of these processes may result in wettability alteration that increases sweep efficiency of water-flooding. Here, wettability alteration due to water-rock interactions will be examined numerically.

To evaluate the wettability alteration, separation between breakthrough curves of the non-reactive component and the cations based on the chromatographic separation will be used due to chemically altered water-flooding. Because the chromatographic separation only takes place at the water-wet surfaces. Breakthrough curves from a chromatographic separation of a published experimental high salinity water injection into the carbonate cores study were matched using reactive transport modeling. Geochemical reaction considering dissolution/precipitation and surface complexation processes coupled with fluid flow and transport in porous media were modeled.

The change of wettability with different parameters was consistent with the results of the surface complexation model, >CaCO₃^-, >CaOH₂⁺, >CO₃Mg⁺ and >CaSO₄^- strongly influence the total surface charge. For the primary ions, Ca²⁺ and SO₄^2- were shown as significant factors in determining the wettability by orthogonal array test. Also, the equilibrium constant is the most important parameter in the surface complexation model, which will give the largest variance of wettability indicator"--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Heidari, Peyman

Committee Member(s)

Bai, Baojun
Wei, Mingzhen

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Petroleum Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Summer 2016

Pagination

x, 55 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 50-54).

Rights

© 2016 Pu Han, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Carbonate reservoirsEnhanced oil recoveryOil fields -- Production methods

Thesis Number

T 10956

Electronic OCLC #

958292987

Recommended Citation

Han, Pu, "Mechanistic understanding of water-rock interactions during high-salinity water-flooding of carbonate reservoirs" (2016). Masters Theses. 7553.
https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/7553