Mineral-Surfactant Interactions for Minimum Reagents Precipitation and Adsorption for Improved Oil Recovery
Chemical EOR can be an effective method for increasing oil recovery and reducing the amount of produced water; however, reservoir fluids are chemically complex and may react adversely to the polymers and surfactants injected into the reservoir. While a major goal is to alter rock wettability and interfacial tension between oil and water, rock-fluid and fluid-fluid interactions must be understood and controlled to minimize reagent loss, maximize recovery and mitigate costly failures. The overall objective of this project was to elucidate the mechanisms of interactions between polymers/surfactants and the mineral surfaces responsible for determining the chemical loss due to adsorption and precipitation in EOR processes. The role of dissolved inorganic species that are dependent on the mineralogy is investigated with respect to their effects on adsorption. Adsorption, wettability and interfacial tension are studied with the aim to control chemical losses, the ultimate goal being to devise schemes to develop guidelines for surfactant and polymer selection in EOR. The adsorption behavior of mixed polymer/surfactant and surfactant/surfactant systems on typical reservoir minerals (quartz, alumina, calcite, dolomite, kaolinite, gypsum, pyrite, etc.) was correlated to their molecular structures, intermolecular interactions and the solution conditions such as pH and/or salinity. Predictive models as well as general guidelines for the use of polymer/surfactant surfactant/surfactant system in EOR have been developed The following tasks have been completed under the scope of the project: (1) Mineral characterization, in terms of SEM, BET, size, surface charge, and point zero charge. (2) Study of the interactions among typical reservoir minerals (quartz, alumina, calcite, dolomite, kaolinite, gypsum, pyrite, etc.) and surfactants and/or polymers in terms of adsorption properties that include both macroscopic (adsorption density, wettability) and microscopic (orientation/conformation of the adsorbed layers), as well as precipitation/abstraction characteristics. (3) Investigation of the role of dissolved species, especially multivalent ions, on interactions between reservoir minerals and surfactants and/or polymers leading to surfactant precipitation or activated adsorption. (4) Solution behavior tests--surface tension, interaction, ultra filtration, and other tests. (5) Surfactant-mineral interactions relative to adsorption, wettability, and electrophoresis. (6) Work on the effects of multivalent ions, pH, temperature, salinity, and mixing ratio on the adsorption. Developments of adsorption models to explain interactions between surfactants/polymers/minerals. (7) General guidelines for the use of certain surfactants, polymers and their mixtures in micelle flooding processes.
- Research Organization:
- Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-03NT15413
- OSTI ID:
- 950482
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Mineral-Surfactant Interaction for Minimum Reagents Precipitation and Adsorption for Improved Oil Recovery
MINERAL-SURFACTANT INTERACTIONS FOR MINIMUM REAGENTS PRECIPITATION AND ADSORPTION FOR IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY