TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental Investigation of Interfacial Tension Measurement and Oil Recovery by Carbonated Water Injection
T2 - A Case Study Using Core Samples from an Iranian Carbonate Oil Reservoir
AU - Honarvar, Bijan
AU - Azdarpour, Amin
AU - Karimi, Mohammad
AU - Rahimi, Ali
AU - Afkhami Karaei, Mohammad
AU - Hamidi, Hossein
AU - Ing, James
AU - Mohammadian, Erfan
N1 - The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge and appreciate the Department of Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Marvdasht Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, 73711-13119, Iran, for the provision of the laboratory facilities
necessary for completing this work.
PY - 2017/3/16
Y1 - 2017/3/16
N2 - Low volumetric sweep efficiency, early breakthrough of injected fluid, and high risk of gas leakage from the reservoir are the major technical challenges associated with direct gas and water injection into oil reservoirs. Injection of carbonated water (CW) into oil reservoirs is a carbon dioxide-augmented water injection technique, which results in improved oil recovery and possible CO2 storage in the reservoir. In this paper, the potential of carbonated water injection (CWI) into an Iranian carbonate reservoir for the purpose of improving oil recovery was investigated. In addition, the interfacial tension (IFT) of crude oil and two different carbonated brines (carbonated formation brine and carbonated seawater) as well as CO2 solubility in these two carbonated brines was determined. Experimental results showed that CO2 solubility in both brines increases with pressure and decreases with temperature. However, CO2 solubility was more promising in seawater compared to formation brine because of the lower salinity. The IFT results showed that increasing the temperature from 40 to 100 °C and increasing the pressure from 1000 to 2500 psi had a positive impact on reducing the IFT between carbonated brines and oil. In addition, core flooding experiments showed that oil recovery increased with CWI as compared to conventional water flooding (WF). However, secondary carbonated water injection (SCWI) resulted in higher oil recovery compared to tertiary carbonated water injection (TCWI). A maximum oil recovery of 21.75%, 61.63%, and 52.58% was achieved with conventional WF, SCWI, and TCWI, respectively.
AB - Low volumetric sweep efficiency, early breakthrough of injected fluid, and high risk of gas leakage from the reservoir are the major technical challenges associated with direct gas and water injection into oil reservoirs. Injection of carbonated water (CW) into oil reservoirs is a carbon dioxide-augmented water injection technique, which results in improved oil recovery and possible CO2 storage in the reservoir. In this paper, the potential of carbonated water injection (CWI) into an Iranian carbonate reservoir for the purpose of improving oil recovery was investigated. In addition, the interfacial tension (IFT) of crude oil and two different carbonated brines (carbonated formation brine and carbonated seawater) as well as CO2 solubility in these two carbonated brines was determined. Experimental results showed that CO2 solubility in both brines increases with pressure and decreases with temperature. However, CO2 solubility was more promising in seawater compared to formation brine because of the lower salinity. The IFT results showed that increasing the temperature from 40 to 100 °C and increasing the pressure from 1000 to 2500 psi had a positive impact on reducing the IFT between carbonated brines and oil. In addition, core flooding experiments showed that oil recovery increased with CWI as compared to conventional water flooding (WF). However, secondary carbonated water injection (SCWI) resulted in higher oil recovery compared to tertiary carbonated water injection (TCWI). A maximum oil recovery of 21.75%, 61.63%, and 52.58% was achieved with conventional WF, SCWI, and TCWI, respectively.
U2 - 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b03365
DO - 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b03365
M3 - Article
VL - 31
SP - 2740
EP - 2748
JO - Energy & Fuels
JF - Energy & Fuels
SN - 0887-0624
IS - 3
ER -
