Experimental investigation on using CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion with high water cut in enhanced oil recovery

CO_(2) emulsions used for EOR have received a lot of interest because of its good performance on CO_(2)mobility reduction.However,most of them have been focusing on the high quality CO_(2) emulsion(high CO_(2) fraction),while CO_(2) emulsion with high water cut has been rarely researched.In this paper,we carried out a comprehensive experimental study of using high water cut CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion for enhancing oil recovery.Firstly,a nonionic surfactant,alkyl glycosides(APG),was selected to stabilize CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion,and the corresponding morphology and stability were evaluated with a transparent PVT cell.Subsequently,plugging capacity and apparent viscosity of CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion were measured systematically by a sand pack displacement apparatus connected with a 1.95-m long capillary tube.Furthermore,a high water cut(40 vol%) CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion was selected for flooding experiments in a long sand pack and a core sample,and the oil recovery,the rate of oil recovery,and the pressure gradients were analyzed.The results indicated that APG had a good performance on emulsifying and stabilizing CO_(2) emulsion.An inversion from H_(2)O/CO_(2) emulsion to CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion with the increase in water cut was confirmed.CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsions with lower water cuts presented higher apparent viscosity,while the optimal plugging capacity of CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion occurred at a certain water cut.Eventually,the displacement using CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion provided 18.98% and 13.36% additional oil recovery than that using pure CO_(2) in long sand pack and core tests,respectively.This work may provide guidelines for EOR using CO_(2) emulsions with high water cut.

Effective groundwater level recovery from mining reduction: Case study of Baoding and Shijiazhuang Plain area

The effective recovery of water level is a crucial measure of the success of comprehensive groundwater over-exploitation management actions in North China.However,traditional evaluation method do not directly capture the relationship between mining and other equilibrium elements.This study presents an innovative evaluation method to assess the water level recovery resulting from mining reduction based on the relationship between variation in exploitation and recharge.Firstly,the recharge variability of source and sink terms for both the base year and evaluation year is calculated and the coefficient of recharge variationβis introduced,which is then used to calculate the effective mining reduction and solve the water level recovery value caused by the effective mining reduction,and finally the water level recovery contribution by mining reduction is calculated by combining with the actual volume of mining reduction in the evaluation area.This research focuses on Baoding and Shijiazhuang Plain area,which share similar hydrogeological conditions but vary in groundwater exploitation and utilization.As the effect of groundwater level recovery with mining reduction was evaluated in these two areas as case study.In 2018,the results showed an effective water level recovery of 0.17 m and 0.13 m in the shallow groundwater of Shijiazhuang and Baoding Plain areas,respectively.The contributions of recovery from mining reduction were 76%and 57.98%for these two areas,respectively.It was notable that the water level recovery was most prominent in the foothill plain regions.From the evaluation results,it is evident that water level recovery depends not only on the intensity of groundwater mining reduction,but also on its effectiveness.The value of water level recovery alone cannot accurately indicate the intensity of mining reduction,as recharge variation significantly influences water level changes.Therefore,in practice,it is crucial to comprehensively assess the impact of mining reduction on water level recovery by combining the coefficient of recharge variation with the contribution of water level recovery from mining reduction.This integrated approach provide a more reasonable and scientifically supported basis,offering essential data support for groundwater management and conservation.To improve the accuracy and reliability of evaluation results,future work will focus on the standardizing and normalizing raw data processing.

Combined imbibition system with black nanosheet and low-salinity water for improving oil recovery in tight sandstone reservoirs

Nanomaterials and low-salinity water(LSW)are two popular enhanced oil recovery(EOR)methods that have been widely studied in recent years.The former is used for in-depth conformance improvement and the latter for microscopic oil displacement(by altering the potential and contact angle).However,there are few literature on combining them to achieve synergistic effects,especially for tight sandstone res-ervoirs.Based on the reservoir conditions of the Jimusar Oilfield,this study investigated the oil recovery mechanism of the combined imbibition system,which was composed of black nanosheet(BN)and LSW.Its performances including decreasing interfacial tension,emulsification,and wettability alterations were evaluated.The imbibition differences between the single system of BN and LSW and the combined BN-LsW imbibition system were then compared.Results showed that the combined imbibition system had a better emulsification effect on the crude oil and could also alter the wettability of the core surface.Moreover,the combined system could increase both the imbibition rate and the ultimate oil recovery.The nuclear magnetic T2 spectrum also indicated that the addition of black nanosheets could divert more fluid into small pores and thus improve the microscopic sweep efficiency.

Hybrid low salinity water and surfactant process for enhancing heavy oil recovery

Combining low salinity water (LSW) with surfactants has an enormous potential for enhancing oil recovery processes. However, there is no consensus about the mechanisms involved, in addition to the fact that several studies have been conducted in model systems, while experiments with rocks and reservoir fluids are scarce. This study presents a core-flooding experiment of LSW injection, with and without surfactant, using the core and heavy oil samples obtained from a sandstone reservoir in southeastern Mexico. The effluents and the crude oil obtained at each stage were analyzed. The study was complemented by tomographic analysis. The results revealed that LSW injection and hybrid process with surfactants obtained an increase of 11.4 percentage points in recovery factor. Various phenomena were caused by LSW flooding, such as changes in wettability and pH, ion exchange, mineral dissolution, detachment of fines and modification of the hydrocarbon profile. In the surfactant flooding, the reduction of interfacial tension and alteration of wettability were the main mechanisms involved. The findings of this work also showed that the conditions believed to be necessary for enhanced oil recovery with LSW, such as the presence of kaolinite or high acid number oil, are not relevant.

Performance of low-salinity water flooding for enhanced oil recovery improved by SiO_2 nanoparticles

Low-salinity water injection has been utilized as a promising method for oil recovery in recent years. Low-salinity water flooding changes the ion composition or brine salinity for improving oil recovery. Recently, the application of nanoparticles with low-salinity water flooding has shown remarkable results in enhanced oil recovery(EOR). Many studies have been performed on the effect of nanofluids on EOR mechanisms. Their results showed that nanofluids can improve oil recovery when used in low-salinity water flooding. In this work, the effects of injection of low-salinity water and low-salinity nanofluid(prepared by adding SiO_2 nanoparticles to low-salinity water) on oil recovery were investigated. At first, the effects of ions were investigated with equal concentrations in low-salinity water flooding. The experimental results showed that the monovalent ions had better performance than the divalent ions because of them having more negative zeta potential and less ionic strength. Also, low-salinity water flooding recovered 6.1% original oil in place(OOIP) more than the high-salinity flooding. Contact angle measurements demonstrated that low-salinity water could reduce the contact angle between oil and water. Then in the second stage, experiments were continued by adding SiO_2 nanoparticles to the K+ solution which had the highest oil recovery at the first stage. The experimental results illustrated that the addition of Si02 nanoparticles up to 0.05 wt% increased oil recovery by about 4% OOIP more than the low-salinity water flooding.

The impact of connate water saturation and salinity on oil recovery and CO2 storage capacity during carbonated water injection in carbonate rock

Carbonated water injection(CWI)is known as an efficient technique for both CO2 storage and enhanced oil recovery(EOR).During CWI process,CO2 moves from the water phase into the oil phase and results in oil swelling.This mechanism is considered as a reason for EOR.Viscous fingering leading to early breakthrough and leaving a large proportion of reservoir un-swept is known as an unfavorable phenomenon during flooding trials.Generally,instability at the interface due to disturbances in porous medium promotes viscous fingering phenomenon.Connate water makes viscous fingers longer and more irregular consisting of large number of tributaries leading to the ultimate oil recovery reduction.Therefore,higher in-situ water content can worsen this condition.Besides,this water can play as a barrier between oil and gas phases and adversely affect the gas diffusion,which results in EOR reduction.On the other hand,from gas storage point of view,it should be noted that CO2 solubility is not the same in the water and oil phases.In this study for a specified water salinity,the effects of different connate water saturations(Swc)on the ultimate oil recovery and CO2 storage capacity during secondary CWI are being presented using carbonate rock samples from one of Iranian carbonate oil reservoir.The results showed higher oil recovery and CO2 storage in the case of lower connate water saturation,as 14%reduction of Swc resulted in 20%and 16%higher oil recovery and CO2 storage capacity,respectively.

Enhanced oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs by spontaneous imbibition of low salinity water

An experimental study was performed to investigate the impact of low salinity water on wettability alteration in carbonate core samples from southern Iranian reservoirs by spontaneous imbibition. In this paper, the effect of temperature, salinity,permeability and connate water were investigated by comparing the produced hydrocarbon curves. Contact angle measurements were taken to confirm the alteration of surface wettability of porous media. Oil recovery was enhanced by increasing the dilution ratio of sea water, and there existed an optimum dilution ratio at which the highest oil recovery was achieved. In addition, temperature had a very significant impact on oil recovery from carbonate rocks. Furthermore, oil recovery from a spontaneous imbibition process was directly proportional to the permeability of the core samples. The presence of connate water saturation inside the porous media facilitated oil production significantly. Also, the oil recovery from porous media was highly dependent on ion repulsion/attraction activity of the rock surface which directly impacts on the wettability conditions. Finally, the highest ion attraction percentage was measured for sodium while there was no significant change in pH for all experiments.

Efficiency of enhanced oil recovery by injection of low-salinity water in barium-containing carbonate reservoirs

When low-salinity water containing sulfate ions is injected into carbonate reservoirs, rock dissolution and in situ precipitation occur, altering rock permeability and wettability. Particularly, when barium ions are present in formation water,they react chemically with SO;, and BaSO;is precipitated. These reactions can cause a serious impact on the efficiency of enhanced oil recovery（EOR）. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to identify EOR efficiency induced by lowsalinity waterflooding（LSWF） when Ba;is present in carbonate reservoirs. From the experimental results, it was confirmed that the permeability calculated by the measured pressure difference was improved because of rock dissolution predominating over in situ precipitation for the case of low Ba;concentrations. In the analysis of wettability alteration through the measurements of relative permeabilities before and after LSWF, the higher Ba;concentration case consumed more SO;in precipitating the BaSO;, resulting in weaker wettability alteration due to the reduction of sulfate activity.These phenomena ultimately influenced EOR efficiency, i.e., the oil recovery was greater for the lower Ba;concentration.

Chlorination roasting-coupled water leaching process for potash recovery from waste mica scrap using dry marble sludge powder and sodium chloride

The present paper reports the effective utilization of marble sludge powder(MSP)for the recovery of potash values from waste mica scrap using chlorination roasting-water leaching method.Characterization studies indicated the presence of dolomite as the major mineral phase in MSP,whereas muscovite and quartz were observed in the mica sample.The acid leaching studies suggest a maximum of 22%potash recovery under conditions:4 M H2SO4 acid,particle size of^100μm,stirring speed of 600 r/min,leaching temperature of 75℃,and leaching time of 90 min.The chlorination roasting-water leaching process was adopted to achieve the lowest level of 80%-90%potash recovery.The optimum conditions for the recovery of^93%potash from mica(~8.6wt%K2O)requires 900℃ roasting temperature,30 min roasting time,and 1:1:0.75 mass ratio of mica:MSP:NaCl.The roasting temperature and amount of NaCl are found to be the most important factors for the recovery process.The reaction mechanism suggests the formation of different mineral phases,including sylvite(KCl),wollastonite,kyanite,and enstatite,during roasting,which were confirmed by X-ray diffraction(XRD)analyses and scanning electron microscopy(SEM)morphologies.The MSP-blended NaCl additive is more effective for potash recovery compared with the other reported commercial roasting additives.

Recovery of vanadium and tungsten from waste selective catalytic reduction catalysts by K_(2)CO_(3) roasting and water leaching followed by CaCl_(2) precipitation

Waste selective catalytic reduction(SCR)catalysts are potential environmental hazards.In this study,the recovery of vanadium and tungsten from waste SCR catalysts by K_(2)CO_(3)roasting and water leaching was investigated.The roasting and leaching conditions were optimized:the leaching efficiencies of vanadium and tungsten were 91.19%and 85.36%,respectively,when 18 equivalents of K_(2)CO_(3)were added to perform the roasting at 900℃ for 2 h,followed by leaching at 90°C for 1 h.Notably,in the described conditions,the leaching rate of silicon was only 28.55%.Titanates,including K_(2)Ti_(6)O_(13)and KTi8017,were also produced.Si removal was achieved in 85%efficiency adjusting the pH to 9.5,and the Si impurity thus isolated was composed of amorphous Si.Tungsten and vanadium were precipitated using CaCl_(2).At pH 10 and following the addition of 0.10 mol of H_(2)O_(2)and 16 equivalents of CaCl_(2),the precipitating efficiencies of tungsten and vanadium were 96.89%and 99.65%,respectively.The overall yield of tungsten and vanadium was 82.71%and 90.87%,respectively.

A novel recovery technology of trace precious metals from waste water by combining agglomeration and adsorption

A novel and efficient technology for separating and recovering precious metals from waste water containing traces of Pd and Ag was studied by the combination of agglomeration and adsorption. The recovery process and the impacts of operating conditions such as pH value of waste water, adsorption time, additive quantity of the flocculant and adsorbent on the recovery efficiency were studied experimentally. The results show that Freundlich isothermal equation is suitable for describing the behavior of the recovery process, and the apparent first-order adsorption rate constant k at 25 ℃ is about 0.233 4 h-1. The optimum technology conditions during the recovery process are that pH value is 8?9; the volume ratio of flocculant to waste water is about 1:(2 000-4 000); the mass ratio of adsorbent to waste water is 1:(30-40); and processing time is 2-4 h. Finally, the field tests were done at the optimum technology conditions, which show that the total concentration of Pd and Ag in the waste water below 11 mg/L can be reduced to be less than 1 mg/L.

Simulation of Gas-Fired Triple-Effect LiBr/Water Absorption Cooling System with Exhaust Heat Recovery Generator

An exhaust heat recovery generator is proposed to be integrated with conventional gas-fired triple-effect LiBr/water absorption cooling cycles to improve system energy efficiency. As a case study, simulation of the novel cycle based on promising parallel flow with cooling capacity of 1 150 kW is carried out under various heat recovery generator vapor production ratios ranging from 0 to 3.5%. The life cycle saving economic analysis, for which the annual gas conservation is estimated with Bin method, is employed to prove the worthiness of extra expenditure. Results show that the optimum gas saving revenue is obtained at 2.8% heat recovery generator vapor production ratio with 42 kW exhaust heat recovered, and the system energy efficiency is improved from 1.78 to 1.83. The initial investment of exchanger can be paid back within 7 years and 9 000 CNY of gas saving revenue will be achieved over the 15-year life cycle of the machine. This technology can be easily implemented and present desirable economic effects, which is feasible to the development of triple-effect absorption cycles.

Wettability alteration analysis of smart water/novel functionalized nanocomposites for enhanced oil recovery

Smart water flooding,as a popular method to change the wettability of carbonate rocks,is one of the interesting and challenging issues in reservoir engineering.In addition,the recent studies show that nanoparticles have a great potential for application in EOR processes.However,little research has been conducted on the use of smart water with nanoparticles in enhanced oil recovery.In this study,stability,contact angle and IFT measurements and multi-step core flooding tests were designed to investigate the effect of the ionic composition of smart water containing SO4^2- and Ca^2+ ions in the presence of nanofluid on EOR processes.The amine/organosiloxane@Al2O3/SiO2(AOAS) nanocomposite previously synthesized using co-precipitation-hydrothermal method has been used here.However,for the first time the application of this nanocomposite along with smart water has been studied in this research.Results show that by increasing the concentrations of calcium and sulfate ions in smart water,oil recovery is improved by 9% and 10%,respectively,compared to seawater.In addition,the use of smart water and nanofluids simultaneously is very effective on increasing oil recovery.Finally,the best performance was observed in smart water containing two times of sulfate ions concentration(SW2 S) with nanofluids,showing increased efficiency of about 7.5%.

Application of ion-engineered Persian Gulf seawater in EOR:effects of different ions on interfacial tension,contact angle,zeta potential,and oil recovery

In this study,we initially performed interfacial tension(IFT)tests to investigate the potential of using the Persian Gulf seawater(PGSW)as smart water with diferent concentrations of NaCl,KCl,MgCl_(2),CaCl_(2),and Na_(2)SO_(4).Next,for each salt,at the concentration where IFT was minimum,we conducted contact angle,zeta potential,and micromodel fooding tests.The results showed that IFT is minimized if NaCl or KCl is removed from PGSW;thus,for solutions lacking NaCl and KCl,the IFT values were obtained at 26.29 and 26.56 mN/m,respectively.Conversely,in the case of divalent ions,minimum IFT occurred when the concentration of MgCl_(2),CaCl_(2),and Na_(2)SO_(4) in PGSW increased.Specifcally,a threefold rise in the concentration of Na_(2)SO_(4) further reduced IFT as compared to optimal concentrations of MgCl_(2) or CaCl_(2).It should be mentioned that eliminating NaCl from PGSW resulted in the lowest IFT value compared to adding or removing other ions.Whereas the removal of NaCl caused the contact angle to decrease from 91.0°to 67.8°relative to PGSW and changed surface wettability to weakly water-wet,eliminating KCl did not considerably change the contact angle,such that it only led to a nine-degree reduction in this angle relative to PGSW and left wettability in the same neutral-wet condition.At optimal concentrations of MgCl_(2),CaCl_(2),and Na_(2)SO_(4),only an increase in Na_(2)SO_(4) concentration in PGSW could change wettability from neutral-wet to weakly water-wet.For solutions with optimal concentrations,the removal of NaCl or KCl caused the rock surface to have slightly higher negative charges,and increasing the concentration of divalent ions led to a small reduction in the negative charge of the surface.The results of micromodel fooding indicated that NaCl-free PGSW could raise oil recovery by 10.12%relative to PGSW.Furthermore,when the Na_(2)SO_(4) concentration in PGSW was tripled,the oil recovery increased by 7.34%compared to PGSW.Accordingly,depending on the conditions,it is possible to use PGSW so as to enhance the efciency of oil recovery by removing NaCl or by increasing the concentration of Na_(2)SO_(4) three times.

Mechanisms of remaining oil formation by water flooding and enhanced oil recovery by reversing water injection in fractured-vuggy reservoirs

To get a deeper understanding on the formation mechanisms and distribution laws of remaining oil during water flooding, and enhanced oil recovery(EOR) mechanisms by reversing water injection after water flooding, 3D visualization models of fractured-vuggy reservoir were constructed based on the elements and configuration of fractures and vugs, and typical fracture-vug structures by using advanced CT scanning and 3D printing technologies. Then, water flooding and reversing water injection experiments were conducted. The formation mechanisms of remaining oil during water flooding include inadequate injection-production well control, gravity difference between oil and water, interference between different flow channels, isolation by low connectivity channel, weak hydrodynamic force at the far end. Under the above effects, 7 kinds of remaining oil may come about, imperfect well-control oil, blind side oil, attic oil at the reservoir top, by-pass residual oil under gravity, by-pass residual oil in secondary channel, isolated oil in low connectivity channel, and remaining oil at far and weakly connected end. Some remaining oil can be recovered by reversing water injection after water flooding, but its EOR is related to the remaining oil type, fracture-cavity structure and reversing injection-production structure. Five of the above seven kinds of remaining oil can be produced by six EOR mechanisms of reversing water injection: gravity displacement, opening new flow channel, rising the outflow point, hydrodynamic force enhancement, vertically equilibrium displacement, and synergistic effect of hydrodynamic force and gravity.

Field Utilization of Dried Water Hyacinth for Phosphorous Recovery from Source-Separated Human Urine

This research demonstrated the feasibility of converting source-separated human urine into a solid fertilizer by means of continuous absorption and solar thermal evaporation using dried water hyacinth as adsorbent. In a preliminary experiment, the dried petioles of water hyacinth (DWH) absorbed urine in a mean rate of 18.78 ml·g-1 within 7 d, retrieving about 3.46% urine dissolved solids (UDS). In an advanced experiment, the DWH’s capacity of urine absorption declined from an initial 2.73 L·kg-1·d-1 to 0.68 L·kg-1·d-1, with a requirement of material change in about 25 effective days and an average ratio of 25 (L) to 1 (kg). Phosphorus (P2O5) concentration in the adsorbent increased from 0.46% (material baseline) to 3.14% (end product), suggesting a satisfactory recovery of the element. In field application, the urine was discharged, not in wet weather, onto the DWH via a tube connected to a waterless urinal. There are several ways to use the UDS-DWH as P(K)-rich fertilizer, e.g., making soluble fertilizer for foliage spraying to encourage prolific flowering and fruiting. Apparently, utilization of water hyacinth waste to recover dissolved plant nutrient elements from source-separated urine will benefit the environment in a wide range of perspectives. The herein innovative use of water hyacinth is also expected to be useful in the recycling of certain dissolved hazardous materials.

The Status and Prospects of Enhancing Oil Recovery Technology for Waterflooding Oilfields in China

Oilfield,Recovery factor,Water Flooding,Evaluation,Prediction

Developing High Water-cut Oil Fields Deeply to Enhance Their Oil Recovery

As stated above,the ultimate recovery of conventional oil in our country is estimated to be 33.6%,i.e,about 66.4%of the oil reserves cannot be recovered by water injection and may only be targeted for tertiary oil recovery or for other ty pes.of new technologics.A screening of 82 major oifields developed by water injection and an analysis of their potential showed that application of tertiary recovery technique such as polymer flooding,surfactant flooding and gas miseible flooding will inerease the oil recovery by 12.4%.The total recoverable reserve increment cor-responds to 56%of the current remaining recover-able reserves.This means that the recoverable r'eserves in OUr country can increase by more than one half by a fully tapping of the potential.Therefore,the development of tertiary recovery technology will be an important strategic measure in China's petroleum industry.

Application of Empirical Method to Evaluate the Active OOIP and Other Recovery Fators for Water－drive Oilfields

In most literatures reservoir engineers usually claimed that oilfields are not identical to each other.To the author's experience on the type-curve matching work as mentioned above,it is not uncommon to find two fields exhibiting almost identical performances throughout their whole production life.In Fig.1,oil and water production figures of two well-known giant oilfields of former USSR-Romashkino(A)and Samotrol(B)are plo-tted together as Type-A curves with software“TWDTC".Surprisingly,nearly all the data points which covered 18-24 years of production history for both fields fell almost on one straight line.This implies that these two fields should have the same magnitude of active OOIP and in the same time,exercise similar waterflooding performance during their whole produciton life.