Adsorption and Surfactant Transport in Porous Media

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Adsorption and Surfactant Transport in Porous
Media
Shunhua Liu George J. Hirasaki Clarence A.
Miller 06.04.2005
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Outline

• Surfactant Adsorption
• Test the effect of different potential
  determining ions
• Test the nonionic surfactant
• Test the new surfactant (N67-7PO IOS41)
• The transportation of two surfactants in porous
  media
• Background
• Propagation of the two surfactants

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Adsorption of Anionic Surfactant (CS330TDA-4PO
11 Blend) with Different Potential Determining
Ions on DOLOMITE Powder
4
Zeta Potential at Interfaces
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Comparisons of Anionic Surfactant (CS330TDA-4PO
11) and Nonionic Surfactant (Nonylphenol-12EO-3PO
) Adsorption on DOLOMITE Powder
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Comparisons of Anionic Surfactant (CS330) and
Nonionic Surfactant (Nonylphenol-12EO-3PO)
Adsorption on SILICA Powder
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Absorption Threshold Measurement for Na2CO3
Same Initial surfactant concentration 0.05 Same
Solid Liquid Ratio(101)
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Outline

• Surfactant Adsorption
• Test the effect of different potential
  determining ions
• Test the nonionic surfactant
• Test the new surfactant (N67-7PO IOS41)
• The transportation of two surfactants in porous
  media
• Background
• Propagation of the two surfactants

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Background for two surfactants system

• Natural Soap (Naphthenic AcidAlkali)
• A hydrophobic surfactant
• Initial condition for our system

Two Surfactants

• Synthetic surfactant
• A hydrophilic surfactant
• Boundary condition for our system

where KCi is the partition coefficient of i
component ci1 is the concentration
in aqueous phase ci2 is the
concentration in oleic phase i3 for
synthetic surfactant i4 for natural soap
e.g.
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The effect of two surfactants
Optimal Salinity vs. Soap-Synthetic Surfactant
Ratio Curve
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Contour of IFT (log10(IFT))
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Residual Phase Saturation Curve
Capillary Number Nc
IFT10-3
IFT10-2
Ref L. W. Lake Enhanced Oil Recovery
Prentice-Hall, New Jersey,1989
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Contour of Partition Coefficient (log10(K))
Kgtgt1
Kltlt1
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Adsorption of Synthetic Surfactant
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Base Case Parameters
Sor0.3 Oil Viscosity 8cp Formation
brine4.8NaCl Soap Concentration c425?10-4,
C41.5 ?10-4 NX100 Surfactant Concentration1
?10-3(0.1) Slug Size0.3PV Aqueous phase
viscosity 15 cp Keep the salinity fixed
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Base Case Effluent History
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Base Case Surfactants Profiles
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Base Case IFT and Soap Surfactant Ratio Profiles
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Base Case Oil Profiles
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Parameter Study (Salinity)
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Parameter Study (Salinity)
Salinity1.0
At t0.5PV
Base Case (Salinity4.8)
Salinity5.5
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Parameter Study (Aqueous phase viscosity)
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Parameter Study (Aqueous phase viscosity)
At t0.5PV
Base Case (Viscosity15cp)
(Viscosity1cp)
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Parameter Study (NX)
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Conclusion

• CO3-2 can be used to reduce the adsorption of
  anionic surfactant on carbonate formation. The
  threshold is around 0.08 Na2CO3.
• When surfactant and natural soap propagate
  together, we can make the Winsor type II region
  ahead of the surfactant front and make the type I
  region behind the front.
• The low IFT region will increase as the
  surfactant and soap propagate.
• By manipulating the operational parameters, We
  can take advantage of the existence of soap and
  make the low tension region wide enough for
  recovering all the oil. The usage of surfactant
  could be very small.

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Future Work

• Add the polymer term to control the viscosity
• Add the alkali term to describe the generation of
  soap
• Find an economic strategy by using the simulator
• Flooding experiments for the history match.