Article
Energy & Fuels
Peyman Koreh, Mostafa Lashkarbolooki, Majid Peyravi, Mohsen Jahanshahi
Summary: This study investigated the performance of different types of surfactants on the surface activity, emulsion size, and surface charge of five oil samples. The effects of various parameters on the interfacial tension of crude oil/surfactant solutions were comprehensively analyzed. The results showed that the properties of the surfactants, crude oil type, and ionic strength influenced the interfacial tension, surface charge, and microemulsion size, but not in a straightforward manner. Among the surfactants considered, the cationic surfactant showed the lowest dependency on the crude oil type, while the non-ionic surfactant showed the highest dependency. CTAB cationic surfactant exhibited the most efficient performance with a microemulsion size of 102 nm and surface charge near the isoelectric point.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Mohammad Fattahi Mehraban, Seyed Amir Farzaneh, Mehran Sohrabi
Summary: This study identified the functional compounds in crude oil that contribute to the low salinity water effect during water injection. Acidic compounds with aliphatic nature and asphaltene molecules were found to promote the formation of water-in-oil microdispersion at the interface, crucial for designing waterflood operations in oil reservoirs.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Davood Zivar, Peyman Pourafshary, Nikoo Moradpour
Summary: The study demonstrates that the low salinity surfactant (LSS) flooding method outperforms low salinity water (LSW) or surfactant flooding (SF) in reducing residual oil saturation (ROS). Experimental data shows a significant difference in ROS between LSS and SF within different ranges of capillary numbers.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
M. B. Abdullahi, S. R. Jufar, S. Kumar, T. M. Al-shami, B. M. Negash
Summary: Low salinity water (LSW) flooding combined with the traditional polymer flooding process (called low salinity polymer, LSP flooding) could significantly improve oil recovery efficiency. This study investigated the effect of polymer concentration, salinity, and temperature on LSP flooding, as well as the interaction between clay minerals and LSP slug. The experiments showed that LSP flooding recovered more additional oil compared to high salinity polymer (HSP) flooding.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR LIQUIDS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yunlong Li, Liguo Jiang
Summary: The study investigated the efficiency of different surfactants in treating crude oil-contaminated low-permeability soil, with Tween 80 showing the highest removal rate.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Nowzar Salehi, Amirhossein Saeedi Dehaghani, Manouchehr Haghighi
Summary: This research investigates the fluid-fluid interaction between surfactant-ion-tuned water and crude from a macroscopic and molecular perspective. The results show that regardless of the surfactant type, asphaltenes are more easily adsorbed in the emulsion phase, especially in systems based on seawater and magnesium-rich water. These findings provide important insights for selecting surfactant-ion compositions to enhance oil recovery.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR LIQUIDS
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Zahra Taghizadeh, Mostafa Lashkarbolooki
Summary: This study investigated the wettability alteration mechanism of the dolomite rock surface by various ions. The coverage ratio of dominant elements on the rock surface was calculated based on elemental analysis and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. The desorption of polar components from the surface was compared between different solutions through interfacial tension, contact angle, and spreading coefficient measurements. It was found that the wettability of the dolomite rock surface can be changed to water-wet state, with about 50% desorption of adsorbed organic acids.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Osama Massarweh, Ahmad S. Abushaikha
Summary: This paper presents an experimental study on the use of a cationic surfactant and smart seawater for enhanced oil recovery in low-permeability carbonate rock with medium viscosity crude oil. The study demonstrates the stability of the surfactant in different salinities and the impact of the surfactant and smart seawater on altering the wettability and interfacial tension of the rock. Using smart seawater in combination with the surfactant resulted in improved oil recovery from tight carbonate reservoirs.
JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR LIQUIDS
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Rukuan Chai, Yuetian Liu, Yuting He, Mingjun Cai, Jialiang Zhang, Feifei Liu, Liang Xue
Summary: Crude oil-aqueous solution interactions play a significant role in low-salinity waterflooding, with core flooding experiments showing that adjusting the ionic composition of the aqueous solution can impact enhanced oil recovery. The ionic composition of aqueous solutions greatly influences these interactions, with specific ions preferentially interacting with acidic polar molecules to enhance the interactions. Mg2+, Ca2+, and Na+ have positive effects, while SO42- shows no positive effect and can reduce the impact of cations on crude oil-aqueous solution interactions.
Review
Energy & Fuels
Afeez Gbadamosi, Shirish Patil, Dhafer Al Shehri, Muhammad Shahzad Kamal, S. M. Shakil Hussain, Emad W. Al-Shalabi, Anas Mohammed Hassan
Summary: This article reviews the combination of low salinity waterflooding (LSWF) and chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) for improving oil production in reservoirs. Experimental and modeling results show that the combination of LSWF and chemical EOR is more efficient than individual EOR methods.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Suparit Tangparitkul, Chris S. Hodges, Dewi A. Ballard, Zhen Niu, Diego Pradilla, Thibaut V. J. Charpentier, Zhenghe Xu, David Harbottle
Summary: Experimental results show that low-salinity injection can improve oil recovery at different temperatures and pressures; the optimal brine concentration can achieve maximum dewetting effects.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Charbel Abou Khalil, Nathalie Fortin, Roger C. Prince, Charles W. Greer, Kenneth Lee, Michel C. Boufadel
Summary: The salinity of upper seashores can surpass seawater due to evaporation, potentially inhibiting the biodegradation of oil spills. Under high salt concentrations, the activity of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria was significantly inhibited, especially for alkanes. This study suggests that occasional irrigation of oiled supratidal zones could support remediation processes by promoting biodegradation.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Ranjan Phukan, Rahul Saha
Summary: A low salinity surfactant (LSS) system was developed to enhance the performance of immiscible surfactant alternating gas/CO2 (SAG) flooding in sandstone reservoir cores. LSS solutions showed positive impacts on various mechanisms responsible for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), including reducing surface and interfacial tension, altering wettability, improving CO2-foam stability, and decreasing surfactant adsorption.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Oceanography
Xiao Huang, Ting Zhou, Xi Chen, Jie Bai, Yangguo Zhao
Summary: High salt and low temperature are bottlenecks for the removal of oil contaminants in the Liaohe Estuarine Wetland in China. Immobilizing the crude-oil degrading microbiota using sodium alginate and polyvinyl alcohol and sodium alginate improved the removal performance. The study showed that the composite microbiota had the potential to remove crude oil from surface water under high salinity and low temperature conditions.
JOURNAL OF OCEAN UNIVERSITY OF CHINA
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Jaeyub Chung, Jeremy Holtsclaw, Timothy C. Henderson, Thomas A. Everett, Nathan C. Schultheiss, Bryan W. Boudouris, Elias Franses
Summary: This study investigates the impact of chemical enhanced oil recovery on the oil recovery of mature oil fields, identifying ultralow interfacial tensions as crucial for increasing the capillary number and mobilizing trapped oil droplets. Among the five types of equilibrium interfacial tensions studied, it was found that formulations with the lowest type IV equilibrium interfacial tension exhibited the highest oil recovery ratio in core flood tests. This highlights the importance of identifying surfactant formulations with low or ultralow interfacial tensions, particularly of type IV or V, for effective screening and predicting oil recovery performance in core flood tests and field applications.