Chromatographic transport of alkaline buffers through reservoir rock

Journal Article · Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Reserv. Eng.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/14295-PA· OSTI ID:6681451

Jensen, J A; Radke, C J

Use of relatively low-pH alkaline buffers, such as sodium carbonate or sodium silicate, is explored as a means for overcoming sodium/hydrogen ion-exchange delay in alkaline waterflooding. A local-equilibrium chromatographic model is outlined to describe the concentration velocities for injection of alkaline buffers into a linear porous medium that exhibits reversible sodium/hydrogen exchange. The theory predicts a buffer ion-exchange wave that is substantially faster than that for equivalent-pH sodium hydroxide solutions. New experimental displacement data are presented for NaOH over a pH range from 11 to 13 and for 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 wt% Na/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ flowing through a 1 wt% NaCl brine saturated Berea sandstone core at 50/sup 0/C (122/sup 0/F). To permit a complete description of the system, column effluent concentrations are measured for sodium ions, hydroxide ions, H/sup 3/-tagged water, and /sup 14/C-tagged carbonate. The experiments confirm that Na/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ propagates through the Berea sand at a higher rate than NaOH. For example, at pH=11.4, Na/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ migrates with a velocity that is 3.5 times faster than NaOH. Comparison of experiment with the ion-exchange chromatography theory shows good agreement. The authors successfully model the concentration histories of tritium-labeled water, total carbon, sodium, and hydroxide, all with no adjustable parameters. This work establishes with both theory and experiment that buffered alkali significantly increases the propagation speed of hydroxide in reservoir sands in comparison with unbuffered alkali at equivalent sodium and hydroxide concentrations. Because lower-pH buffered alkali can also protect against rock dissolution loss, the validated reduction of buffer ion-exchange lag considerably improves the promise of the alkaline flooding process for field application.

• Research Organization: Serck Baker, Huntington Beach, CA; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (US)
• OSTI ID: 6681451
• Journal Information: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Reserv. Eng.; (United States), Vol. 3:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
CAUSTIC FLOODING
DISPLACEMENT FLUIDS
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
RESERVOIR ROCK
ION EXCHANGE
WATER
LABELLING
BRINES
BUFFERS
CARBON 14
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HYDROGEN
ION EXCHANGE CHROMATOGRAPHY
PH VALUE
POROUS MATERIALS
SANDSTONES
SODIUM
SODIUM CARBONATES
SODIUM HYDROXIDES
THEORETICAL DATA
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRITIUM
WATERFLOODING
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALI METALS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON ISOTOPES
CARBONATES
CHROMATOGRAPHY
DATA
ELEMENTS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
HYDROXIDES
INFORMATION
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MATERIALS
METALS
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOISOTOPES
RECOVERY
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production