Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Modeling low saline carbonated water flooding including surface complexes

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Computational Geosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Carbonated water flooding (CWI) increases oil production due to favorable dissolution effects and viscosity reduction. Accurate modeling of CWI performance requires a simulator with the ability to capture the true physics of such process. In this study, compositional modeling coupled with surface complexation modeling (SCM) are done, allowing a unified study of the influence in oil recovery of reduction of salt concentration in water. The compositional model consists of the conservation equations of total carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, chloride and decane. The coefficients of such equations are obtained from the equilibrium partition of chemical species that are soluble both in oleic and the aqueous phases. SCM is done by using the PHREEQC program, which determines concentration of the master species. Estimation of the wettability as a function of the Total Bound Product (TBP) that takes into account the concentration of the complexes in the aqueous, oleic phases and in the rock walls is performed. We solve analytically and numerically these equations in \(1-\)D in order to elucidate the effects of the injection of low salinity carbonated water into a reservoir containing oil equilibrated with high salinity carbonated water.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alvarez, A.C., Bruining, J., Lambert, W.J., Marchesin, D.: Analytical and numerical solutions for carbonated waterflooding. Comput. Geosci. 22(2), 505–526 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Al-Shalabi, E.W., Sepehrnoori, K., Delshad, M., Pope, G.: A novel method to model low-salinity-water injection in carbonate oil reservoirs. SPE J. 20(05), 1154–1166 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Al-Shalabi, E.W., Sepehrnoori, K., Pope, G.: Geochemical interpretation of low-salinity-water injection in carbonate oil reservoirs. SPE J. 20(06), 1212–1226 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Alvarez, A.C., Bruining, J., Marchesin, D.: Nonlinear wave interactions in geochemical modeling. J. Differ. Equ. 359, 1–22 (2023)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Alvarez, A.C., Goedert, G.T., Marchesin, D.: Resonance in rarefaction and shock curves: local analysis and numerics of the continuation method. J. Hyperbolic Differ. Equ. 17(04), 639–676 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Alvarez, A.C., Blom, T., Lambert, W.J., Bruining, J., Marchesin, D.: Analytical and numerical validation of a model for flooding by saline carbonated water. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 167, 900–917 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Appelo, C., Anthony, J., Postma, D.: Geochemistry, Groundwater and Pollution. Taylor & Francis (2005)

  8. Appelo, C.A.J.: Cation and proton exchange, \(pH\) variations, and carbonate reactions in a freshening aquifer. Water Resour. Res. 30(10), 2793–2805 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Ayirala, S.C., Yousef, A.A.: A state-of-the-art review to develop injection-water-chemistry requirement guidelines for ior/eor projects. SPE Prod. Oper. 30(01), 26–42 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bonto, M., Eftekhari, A.A., Nick, H.M.: An overview of the oil-brine interfacial behavior and a new surface complexation model. Sci. Rep. 9(1), 1–16 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Bordeaux-Rego, F., Mehrabi, M., Sanaei, A., Sepehrnoori, K.: Improvements on modelling wettability alteration by engineered water injection: surface complexation at the oil/brine/rock contact. Fuel. 284, 118991 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Brady, P.V., Krumhansl, J.L., Mariner, P.E.: Surface complexation modeling for improved oil recovery. In: SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium, pp. SPE 153744

  13. Bruining, H.: Upscaling of Single-and Two-Phase Flow in Reservoir Engineering. CRC Press (2021)

  14. Bryant, S.L., Schechter, R.S., Lake, L.W.: Interactions of precipitation/dissolution waves and ion exchange in flow through permeable media. AIChE J. 32(5), 751–764 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Bryant, S.L., Schechter, R.S., Lake, L.W.: Mineral sequences in precipitation/dissolution waves. AIChE J. 33(8), 1271–1287 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Buckley, S.E., Leverett, M.: Mechanism of fluid displacement in sands. Trans. AIME. 146(01), 107–116 (1942)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Christensen, R.J.: Carbonated waterflood results–Texas and Oklahoma. In: Annual Meeting of Rocky Mountain Petroleum Engineers of AIME. OnePetro (1961)

  18. De Nevers, N.: A calculation method for carbonated water flooding. Soc. Pet. Eng. J. 4(01), 9–20 (1964)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Dong, Y., Dindoruk, B., Ishizawa, C., Lewis, E., Kubicek, T.: An experimental investigation of carbonated water flooding. In: SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. OnePetro

  20. Dubey, S.T., Doe, P.H.: Base number and wetting properties of crude oils. SPE Reserv. Eng. 8(3), 195–200 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Dumoré, J.M., Hagoort, J., Risseeuw, A.S.: An analytical model for one-dimensional, three-component condensing and vaporizing gas drives. Soc. Pet. Eng. J. 24(02), 169–179 (1984)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Ebeltoft, E., Lomeland, F., Brautaset, A., Haugen, Å.: Parameter based scal-analysing relative permeability for full field application. In: International Symposium of the Society of Core Analysis, Avignon, France, pp. 8–11 (2014)

  23. Elakneswaran, Y., Shimokawara, M., Nawa, T., Takahashi, S.: Surface complexation and equilibrium modelling for low salinity waterflooding in sandstone reservoirs. In: Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference. OnePetro (2017)

  24. Erzuah, S., Fjelde, I., Omekeh, A.V.: Wettability estimation using surface-complexation simulations. SPE Reserv. Eval. Eng. 22(02), 509–519 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Erzuah, S., Fjelde, I., Omekeh, A.V.: Modelling low-salinity waterflooding: effect of divalent cations and capillary pressure. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 149, 1–8 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Farajzadeh, R., Matsuura, T., van Batenburg, D., Dijk, H.: Detailed modeling of the alkali/surfactant/polymer (ASP) process by coupling a multipurpose reservoir simulator to the chemistry package PHREEQC. SPE Reserv. Eval. Eng. 15(04), 423–435 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Foroozesh, J., Jamiolahmady, M., Sohrabi, M.: Mathematical modeling of carbonated water injection for EOR and CO2 storage with a focus on mass transfer kinetics. Fuel. 174, 325–332 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Ginn, D.: Effects of potential determining ions and \(pH\) on the wettability of intermediate wet outcrop limestone. Master’s thesis, University of Stavanger, Norway (2020)

  29. Glimm, J.: Solutions in the large for nonlinear hyperbolic systems of equations. Commun. Pur. Appl. Math. 18(4), 697–715 (1965)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Grogan, A.T., Pinczewski, W.V.: The role of molecular diffusion processes in tertiary CO\(_2\) flooding. J. Pet. Technol. 39(05), 591–602 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Hassan, A.M., Ayoub, M., Eissa, M., Bruining, H., Zitha, P.: Study of surface complexation modeling on a novel hybrid enhanced oil recovery (eor) method; smart-water assisted foam-flooding. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 195, 107563 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Helfferich, F.G.: The theory of precipitation/dissolution waves. AIChE J. 35(1), 75–87 (1989)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Hirasaki, G., Zhang, D.L.: Surface chemistry of oil recovery from fractured, oil-wet, carbonate formation. In: International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry. OnePetro (2003)

  34. Honarpour, M.M.: Relative Permeability of Petroleum Reservoirs. CRC press (1986)

  35. Jerauld, G.R., Webb, K.J., Lin, C.Y., Seccombe, J.C.: Modeling low-salinity waterflooding. SPE Reserv. Eval. Eng. 11(06), 1000–1012 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Jerauld, G.R., Lin, C.Y., Webb, K.J., Seccombe, J.C.: Modeling low-salinity waterflooding. SPE Reserv. Eval. Eng. 11(06), 1000–1012 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Johns, R.T., Dindoruk, B., Orr, F.M., Jr.: Analytical theory of combined condensing/vaporizing gas drives. SPE Adv. Technol. Ser. 1(02), 7–16 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Korrani, A.K., Jerauld, G.R., Sepehrnoori, K.: Mechanistic modeling of low-salinity waterflooding through coupling a geochemical package with a compositional reservoir simulator. SPE Reserv. Eval. Eng. 19(01), 142–162 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Korrani, A.K., Jerauld, G.R.: Modeling wettability change in sandstones and carbonates using a surface-complexation-based method. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 174, 1093–1112 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Kumar, S., Mandal, A.: A comprehensive review on chemically enhanced water alternating gas/CO\(_2\) (CEWAG) injection for enhanced oil recovery. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 157, 696–715 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Lake, L.W.: Enhanced Oil Recovery. Prentice Hall Inc. (1989)

  42. Lake, L.W., Johns, R.T., Rossen, W.R., Pope, G.A.: Fundamentals of Enhanced Oil Recovery. Society of Petroleum Engineers, Richardson (2014)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  43. Lambert, W.J., Alvarez, A.C., Matos, V., Marchesin, D., Bruining, J.: Nonlinear wave analysis of geochemical injection for multicomponent two phase flow in porous media. J. Differ. Equ. 266(1), 406–454 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Lax, P.D.: Hyperbolic systems of conservation laws II. Commun. Pur. Appl. Math. 10(4), 537–566

  45. Leverett, M.C.: Flow of oil-water mixtures through unconsolidated sands. Trans. AIME. 132(01), 149–171 (1939)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Liu, T.P.: The Riemann problem for general 2\(\times \) 2 conservation laws. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 199, 89–112

  47. Liu, T.P.: The Riemann problem for general systems of conservation laws. J. Differ. Equ. 18(1), 218–234 (1975)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Lomeland, F., Ebeltoft, E., Hasanov, B.: A versatile representation of upscaled relative permeability for field applications (spe 154487). In: 74th EAGE Conference and Exhibition incorporating EUROPEC 2012, pp. cp–293. European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers (2012)

  49. Lutzenkirchen, J.: Surface Complexation Modelling. Elsevier (2006)

  50. Marmier, N., Dumonceau, J., Fromage, F.: Surface Complexation Modeling of yb (iii) sorption and desorption on hematite and alumina. J. Contam. Hydrol. 26(1–4), 159–167 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Mehdiyev, F., Erzuah, S., Omekeh, A., Fjelde, I.: Surface Complexation Modelling of wettability alteration during carbonated water flooding. Energies. 15(9), 3020 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Mehraban, M.F., Ayatollahi, S., Sharifi, M.: Experimental investigation on synergic effect of salinity and ph during low salinity water injection into carbonate oil reservoirs. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 202, 108555 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Merkel, B.J.: Groundwater Geochemistry. Springer (2005)

  54. Nowrouzi, I., Manshad, A.K., Mohammadi, A.H.: Effects of dissolved binary ionic compounds and different densities of brine on interfacial tension (ift), wettability alteration, and contact angle in smart water and carbonated smart water injection processes in carbonate oil reservoirs. J. Mol. Liq. 254, 83–92 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Oleinik, O.A.: Discontinuous solutions of non-linear differential equations. Usp. Matematicheskikh Nauk. 12(3), 3–73 (1957)

    Google Scholar 

  56. Omekeh, A., Friis, H.A., Fjelde, I., Evje, S.: Modeling of ion-exchange and solubility in low salinity water flooding. In: SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium. OnePetro (2012)

  57. Parkhurst, D.L., Appelo, C.A.J.: User’s guide to PHREEQC (version 2): A computer program for speciation, batch-reaction, one-dimensional transport, and inverse geochemical calculations (1999)

  58. Parkhurst, D.L., Appelo, C.A.J.: Description of input and examples for PHREEQC version 3a computer program for speciation, batch-reaction, one-dimensional transport, and inverse geochemical calculations (2013)

  59. Pope, G.A.: The application of fractional flow theory to enhanced oil recovery. Soc. Pet. Eng. J. 20(03), 191–205 (1980)

  60. Sanaei, A., Tavassoli, S., Sepehrnoori, K.: Investigation of modified water chemistry for improved oil recovery: application of DLVO theory and surface complexation model. Colloids Surf. A Physicochem. Eng. Asp. 574, 131–145 (2019)

  61. Sanaei, A., Varavei, A., Sepehrnoori, K.: Mechanistic modeling of carbonated waterflooding. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 178, 863–877

  62. Sari, A., Chen, Y., Xie, Q., Saeedi, A.: Low salinity water flooding in high acidic oil reservoirs: Impact of \(pH\) on wettability of carbonate reservoirs. J. Mol. Liq. 281, 444–450 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Sheng, J.J.: Enhanced oil recovery field case studies. Gulf Professional Publishing (2013)

  64. Sohrabi, M., Riazi, M., Jamiolahmady, M., Ireland, S., Brown, C.: Mechanisms of oil recovery by carbonated water injection. In: SCA annual meeting (2009)

  65. Stumm, W., Morgan, J.J.: Aquatic Chemistry: Chemical Equilibria and Rates in Natural Waters, vol. 126. John Wiley & Sons (2012)

  66. Welge, H.J., Johnson, E.F., Ewing, S.P., Jr., Brinkman, F.H.: The linear displacement of oil from porous media by enriched gas. J. Petrol. Technol. 13(08), 787–796 (1961)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Wolthers, M., Charlet, L., Van Cappellen, P.: The surface chemistry of divalent metal carbonate minerals; a critical assessment of surface charge and potential data using the charge distribution multi-site ion complexation model. Am. J. Sci. 308(8), 905–941 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Xie, Q., Sari, A., Pu, W., Chen, Y., Brady, P.V., Al Maskari, N., Saeedi, A.: pH effect on wettability of oil/brine/carbonate system: Implications for low salinity water flooding. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 168, 419–425 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Yousef, A.A., Al-Saleh, S., Al-Jawfi, M.: Smart waterflooding for carbonate reservoirs: Salinity and role of ions. In: SPE Middle East Oil and Gas Show and Conference. OnePetro (2011)

  70. Yousef, A.A., Al-Saleh, S., Al-Jawfi, M.: Improved/enhanced oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs by tuning injection water salinity and ionic content. In: SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium. OnePetro (2012)

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the reviewers for their constructive feedback and insightful comments, which greatly enhanced the quality and depth of our manuscript. The authors are grateful to Ali A. Eftekhari for reviewing the calculations carried out using the PHREEQC program. Additionally, they would like to thank Sergio Pilotto for his support and acknowledge the funding received from CAPES under grant 88881.156518/2017-01 and CAPES/NUFFIC grant 88887.156517/2017-00, CNPq under grants 405366/2021-3 and 306566/2019-2, and FAPERJ under grants E-26/210.738/2014, E-26/202.764/2017, and E-26/201.159/2021.

Author information

Author notes

  1. A.C. Alvarez, J. Bruining and D. Marchesin contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Computação, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Avenida Athos da Silveira Ramos, 274, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

    A.C. Alvarez

  2. Lab. Fluid Dynamics, IMPA, Estrada Dona Castorina, 110, Rio de Janeiro, 22460-320, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

    J. Bruining

  3. Civil Engineering and Geosciences, TU Delft, Stevinweg 1, Delft, 2628 CE, Delft, The Netherlands

    D. Marchesin

Authors
  1. A.C. Alvarez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Bruining
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. Marchesin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A.C. Alvarez.

Ethics declarations

There are no conflicts of competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Alvarez, A., Bruining, J. & Marchesin, D. Modeling low saline carbonated water flooding including surface complexes. Comput Geosci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10596-024-10274-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10596-024-10274-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation