Article
Energy & Fuels
Miguel Mejia, Jose E. Parra, Lucas Mejia, Gary A. Pope, Matthew T. Balhoff
Summary: The study found that using surfactants in fractured oil wet limestone cores can form viscous microemulsions, which are beneficial for increasing oil recovery, especially compared to water flooding.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Behrouz M. Davoudi, Mehdi Assareh
Summary: Surfactant-aided gravity drainage is an enhanced oil recovery technique used in fractured carbonate reservoirs with water-invaded zones, predominantly oil-wet or mixed-wet rocks. This study presents a comparison of the re-infiltration mechanism between surfactant-aided gravity drainage and conventional oil-water gravity drainage, examining the effects of various factors on re-infiltration such as rock and fluid properties, wettability alteration, and surfactant adsorption.
JOURNAL OF SURFACTANTS AND DETERGENTS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sina Baseli Zadeh, Ehsan Khamehchi, Saeed Saber-Samandari, Ali Alizadeh
Summary: This study investigates the infiltration of micro-bubble fluid as an underbalanced drilling method in fractured reservoirs. The effects of fracture size, bubble size, and pressure differential of fracture ends are analyzed, finding that higher mixing speed values create smaller bubbles with lower blocking ability, while smaller fracture width increases the probability of bubble bridges in the fracture.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Pushpesh Sharma, Konstantinos Kostarelos, Mohamad Salman
Summary: Energy from unconventional resources such as bitumen and extra-heavy oil represents a significant portion of global energy reserves. However, current thermal recovery processes have high carbon footprints and environmental impacts on water resources. The proposed closed-cycle oil recovery (C-COR) process offers a greener alternative with minimal water consumption. Research showed that high surfactant adsorption at low pH levels negatively affects the C-COR process, but alkali can be used to reduce adsorption and improve oil solubilization.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Maryam Hasanzadeh, Reza Azin, Rouhollah Fatehi, Sohrab Zendehboudi
Summary: Gravity plays a significant role in fluid flow in naturally fractured reservoirs, with forced gravity drainage showing better performance compared to free-fall gravity drainage. Controlled gas injection rates improve recovery, particularly in cases where fractures are blocked, while open fractures lead to lower recovery rates.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Gideon Dordzie, Morteza Dejam
Summary: Recent research has focused on the use of low salinity water, nanoparticles, and surfactants as enhanced oil recovery agents in fractured carbonate reservoirs, showing successful application in carbonates due to their environmental friendliness and low cost. However, there is relatively limited investigation into the effectiveness of these methods in the presence of fractures.
ADVANCES IN COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Xiao Jin, Alhad Phatak, Aaron Sanders, Dawn Friesen, Ed Lewis, Raul Valdez
Summary: This study investigates wettability alteration and reimbibition phenomenon using various cationic surfactants in a mixed- to oil-wet reservoir. The results indicate successful application of C-12 surfactant in the Yates field for incremental oil recovery, but a decrease in oil recovery is observed with lower surfactant concentrations. The importance of rock permeability on oil reimbibition is also highlighted, suggesting a linear response between permeability and oil recovery.
SPE RESERVOIR EVALUATION & ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Ricardo Millan-Becerro, Carlos R. Canovas, Francisco Macias, Tobias S. Roetting, Louise Siddorn, Peter Stanley, Jose Miguel Nieto
Summary: This study evaluates the effectiveness of dispersed alkaline substrate (DAS) technology in treating highly acidic and contaminated leachates from sulfide-rich mining wastes under wet temperate oceanic climate conditions. The results show that the use of multistep columns filled with alkaline reagents can effectively remove various metals and metalloids from the leachates, although the removal of SO4 is not significant. Precipitation of certain phases may have played a key role in controlling the solubility of pollutants during the treatment process.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Amirhossein Aghabarari, Mojtaba Ghaedi
Summary: A vast amount of recoverable oil is buried in naturally fractured reservoirs, but the simulation and production of these reservoirs are complex due to their heterogeneous nature. This study examines the assumption of uniform matrix block size in the simulation results of naturally fractured reservoirs and proposes a more realistic simulation approach. The findings reveal that homogenization can cause significant inaccuracy in the simulation results, highlighting the need for a more precise modeling and simulation approach for naturally fractured reservoirs.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Majid Manafi, Azim Kalantariasl, Mojtaba Ghaedi
Summary: This research focused on improving the simulation and visualization of multiphase flow in fractured porous media and studying the impact of different parameters on gravity drainage performance. The grey relational analysis revealed that the physical properties of the fluids have the most influence on re-infiltration, while tilt angle reduces the degree of re-infiltration. These findings provide insights into the relative influence of different reservoir parameters on gravity drainage performance and block-to-block interactions.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ashish Kumar, Hassan Hassanzadeh
Summary: Oil and gas formations are often heterogeneous, with one common occurrence being the presence of shale barriers. This paper presents a numerical simulation study comparing SAGD and ES-SAGD in the presence of shale barriers. The results show that ES-SAGD performs better than SAGD in heterogeneous formations.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Frank Zwaan, Matthias Rosenau, Daniele Maestrelli
Summary: This study systematically tested the influence of salt basin geometry on salt tectonics through analogue experiments, showing that the initial salt depocenter location and mean salt thickness are dominant factors controlling deformation. The experiments were qualitatively analyzed using top view photography, and quantitatively through Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and 3D photogrammetry (Structure-from-Motion, SfM) to obtain surface displacement and topographic evolution.
MARINE AND PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Joanne U. Angai, Carol J. Ptacek, Eva Pakostova, Jeff G. Bain, Brent R. Verbuyst, David W. Blowes
Summary: The findings of laboratory column experiments suggest that a mixture of organic carbon and zero-valent iron has the potential to effectively remove arsenic, metals, and sulfate ions from acidic, mine-impacted water. The results indicate that under appropriate conditions, the mixture can significantly raise the pH of the water, remove over 99.9% of arsenic, and eliminate other pollutants such as metals.
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Florian Ruediger, Marco Dentz, John Nimmo, Jannes Kordilla
Summary: Fracture networks in consolidated fractured rock formations can facilitate water infiltration and recharge. A study constructed a simple network system to investigate the control of fracture networks and fracture-matrix interaction on preferential flow and infiltration dynamics. The study found that the original model had deviations from the laboratory results and introduced new parameters to improve the model. The study also discovered a unique parameter set for different system sizes.
VADOSE ZONE JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Emily Tran, Mavrik Zavrin, Annie B. Kersting, Ofra Klein-BenDavid, Nadya Teutsch, Noam Weisbrod
Summary: This study investigated the influence of montmorillonite colloids on the mobility of Pu-238, U-233, and Cs-137 through a chalk fracture. The results showed that uranium sorbed sparingly to chalk, while cesium sorbed strongly to both the montmorillonite colloids and chalk, resulting in low Cs-137 breakthrough. The experiments revealed differences in Pu(IV) and Pu(V) transport behavior, highlighting the importance of understanding redox-sensitive radionuclide migration.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)