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Micro-CT and Wettability Analysis of Oil Recovery from Sand Packs and the Effect of Waterflood Salinity and Kaolinite

Lebedeva, Evgenia; Fogden, Andrew

Description

An image-based approach was developed by combining microtomography with electron microscopy and contact angle goniometry to determine the pore-scale distribution of crude oil in plugs after waterflooding and shed light on the molecularscale mechanisms responsible. The approach was applied to a model rock comprising a pack of quartz sand grains without or with a preapplied lining of kaolinite, imaged prior to and after capillary-driven oil recovery by flooding with a model brine of high or low...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorLebedeva, Evgenia
dc.contributor.authorFogden, Andrew
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-08T22:09:30Z
dc.identifier.issn1520-5029
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/29060
dc.description.abstractAn image-based approach was developed by combining microtomography with electron microscopy and contact angle goniometry to determine the pore-scale distribution of crude oil in plugs after waterflooding and shed light on the molecularscale mechanisms responsible. The approach was applied to a model rock comprising a pack of quartz sand grains without or with a preapplied lining of kaolinite, imaged prior to and after capillary-driven oil recovery by flooding with a model brine of high or low salinity. The presence of kaolinite increased residual oil and reversed its brine dependence, with high-salinity flooding giving greatest recovery from the clean sand and least recovery from kaolinite-coated sand. These two extremes tended to exhibit the most connected residual oil clusters, while low salinity gave smaller blobs, to the detriment or advantage of oil recovery. Low-salinity flooding in secondary or tertiary recovery mode resulted in comparable oil residuals in kaolinite-coated sand. Surface analysis of the grains and model substrate analogs without or with this coating showed that recovery was correlated to the advancing contact angle. In particular, kaolinite was far more resistant than quartz to wettability alteration by this particular crude oil, resulting in a more water-wet state prone to oil trapping via bypassing and snap-off mechanisms.
dc.publisherAmerican Chemical Society
dc.sourceEnergy and Fuels
dc.subjectKeywords: Advancing contact angle; Clean sand; Contact angle goniometry; Image-based; Low salinity; Micro CT; Micro-tomography; Model substrates; Oil recoveries; Quartz sand; Residual oil; Sand pack; Water flood; Wettability alteration; Computerized tomography; Con
dc.titleMicro-CT and Wettability Analysis of Oil Recovery from Sand Packs and the Effect of Waterflood Salinity and Kaolinite
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.citationvolume25
dc.date.issued2011
local.identifier.absfor020402 - Condensed Matter Imaging
local.identifier.absfor091406 - Petroleum and Reservoir Engineering
local.identifier.absfor030603 - Colloid and Surface Chemistry
local.identifier.ariespublicationu4860843xPUB62
local.type.statusPublished Version
local.contributor.affiliationLebedeva, Evgenia, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationFogden, Andrew, College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, ANU
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.bibliographicCitation.issue12
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage5683
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage5694
local.identifier.doi10.1021/ef201242s
local.identifier.absseo850601 - Energy Services and Utilities
dc.date.updated2016-02-24T11:25:13Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-84859919505
local.identifier.thomsonID000297946500016
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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