Pore-Scale Investigation of Low-Salinity Nanofluids on Wetting Properties of Oil Carbonate Reservoir Rocks Studied by X-ray Micro-Tomography
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Oil Preparation
2.2. Rock Preparation
2.3. Preparation of Surfactants and Nanoparticle Dispersions
2.4. Interfacial Tension (IFT) Measurements
2.5. Core-Flooding Experiments
- First, 70 mL of dehydrated toluene was pumped through the core in order to ease the flow of isoviscous oil and to remove air bubbles.
- Then, the sample was consequently flooded with isoviscous oil and reservoir brine to achieve the residual oil and water saturation. The injection rates were 0.1 mL/min, 0.2 mL/min, 0.3 mL/min, and 0.6 mL/min. Permeability was calculated as 140 mD and 15 mD for oil and water, respectively.
- Afterwards, the core sample was consequently flooded with LSW, surfactant with LSW, and surfactant nanofluid with LSW. It is noteworthy that the injection rates were the same for both oil and water. The permeability rates were as follows: 14 mD, 16 mD, and 17 mD. After each step of flooding, X-ray μCT images were taken and wettability changes were analyzed. The concentrations of used surfactant and nanoparticles were chosen according to the screening tests.
2.6. X-ray Micro-Tomography Experiments
2.7. Wettability Measurements
- The droplet profiles were extracted from the µCT images using the open-source image processing software ImageJ.
- In order to make the contact line with a sharp appearance, the extracted droplet profiles were rotated to a horizontal position (normal) in the image coordinates (pixels) (Figure 3, for example).
- The length in pixels was then converted into the length dimension (µm) using ImageJ software.
- Once optimal orientation and length conversion were determined, the radius (r) and height (h) of the droplets were obtained by measuring the length of the corresponding edges of droplets using ImageJ software.
- Once the geometric parameters (h, r) were determined, the contact angles (θ) were calculated using the equations:
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Effect of Nanoparticles and Different Surfactants on the IFT of Water–Oil System
3.2. Investigation of the Effect of Different Fluids on Wettability Using X-ray Micro-Tomography
4. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Fluid | Asphaltenes (%) | Saturated (%) | Aromatic (%) | Resins (%) | Volatile Components (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial oil | 12.87 | 20.42 | 37.8 | 10.81 | 18.1 |
Deasphalted oil | 9.15 | 13.86 | 21.74 | 14.52 | 40.73 |
Fluid | LSW | Brine |
---|---|---|
Component | Concentration (g/L) | |
Sodium chloride (NaCl) | 10,610 | 159,260 |
Calcium chloride (CaCl2·H2O) | 2830 | 42,480 |
Magnesium chloride (MgCl2·6H2O) | 1340 | 20,097 |
Sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) | 0.062 | 0.093 |
IFT (mN/m) at 70 °C | 8.91 | 20.98 |
Fluid | IFT (mN/m) | |
---|---|---|
Before Filtration | After Filtration | |
Brine | 18.34 ± 1.46 | 14.38 ± 1.08 |
LSW | 16.04 ± 1.21 | 11.74 ± 0.96 |
LSW + AOS | 0.15 ± 0.02 | 1.15 ± 0.09 |
LSW + AOS + SiNPs | 0.14 ± 0.02 | 0.46 ± 0.04 |
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Ivanova, A.; Kuandykova, A.; Rodionov, A.; Morkovkin, A.; Burukhin, A.; Cheremisin, A. Pore-Scale Investigation of Low-Salinity Nanofluids on Wetting Properties of Oil Carbonate Reservoir Rocks Studied by X-ray Micro-Tomography. Energies 2023, 16, 1400. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031400
Ivanova A, Kuandykova A, Rodionov A, Morkovkin A, Burukhin A, Cheremisin A. Pore-Scale Investigation of Low-Salinity Nanofluids on Wetting Properties of Oil Carbonate Reservoir Rocks Studied by X-ray Micro-Tomography. Energies. 2023; 16(3):1400. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031400
Chicago/Turabian StyleIvanova, Anastasia, Azhar Kuandykova, Alexander Rodionov, Andrey Morkovkin, Alexander Burukhin, and Alexey Cheremisin. 2023. "Pore-Scale Investigation of Low-Salinity Nanofluids on Wetting Properties of Oil Carbonate Reservoir Rocks Studied by X-ray Micro-Tomography" Energies 16, no. 3: 1400. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031400