Imperial College London
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ProfessorMartinBlunt

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

Chair in Flow in Porous Media
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 6500m.blunt Website

 
 
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Location

 

2.38ARoyal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Selem:2022:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.063,
author = {Selem, AM and Agenet, N and Blunt, MJ and Bijeljic, B},
doi = {10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.063},
journal = {Journal of Colloid and Interface Science},
pages = {486--498},
title = {Pore-scale processes in tertiary low salinity waterflooding in a carbonate rock: Micro-dispersions, water film growth, and wettability change},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.063},
volume = {628},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - HYPOTHESIS: The wettability change from oil-wet towards more water-wet conditions by injecting diluted brine can improve oil recovery from reservoir rocks, known as low salinity waterflooding. We investigated the underlying pore-scale mechanisms of this process to determine if improved recovery was associated with a change in local contact angle, and if additional displacement was facilitated by the formation of micro-dispersions of water in oil and water film swelling. EXPERIMENTS: X-ray imaging and high-pressure and temperature flow apparatus were used to investigate and compare high and low salinity waterflooding in a carbonate rock sample. The sample was placed in contact with crude oil to obtain an initial wetting state found in hydrocarbon reservoirs. High salinity brine was then injected at increasing flow rates followed by low salinity brine injection using the same procedure. FINDINGS: Development of water micro-droplets within the oil phase and detachment of oil layers from the rock surface were observed after low salinity waterflooding. During high salinity waterflooding, contact angles showed insignificant changes from the initial value of 115°, while the mean curvature and local capillary pressure values remained negative, consistent with oil-wet conditions. However, with low salinity, the decrease in contact angle to 102° and the shift in the mean curvature and capillary pressure to positive values indicate a wettability change. Overall, our analysis captured the in situ mechanisms and processes associated with the low salinity effect and ultimate increase in oil recovery.
AU  - Selem,AM
AU  - Agenet,N
AU  - Blunt,MJ
AU  - Bijeljic,B
DO  - 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.063
EP  - 498
PY  - 2022///
SN  - 0021-9797
SP  - 486
TI  - Pore-scale processes in tertiary low salinity waterflooding in a carbonate rock: Micro-dispersions, water film growth, and wettability change
T2  - Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.063
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35940140
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/99946
VL  - 628
ER  -
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