Mechanisms of Enhanced Oil Recovery by Surfactant-Induced Wettability Alteration.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Hou, Baofeng; Wang, Yefei; Cao, Xulong; Zhang, Jun; Song, Xinwang; Ding, Mingchen; Chen, Wuhua
- Source
- Journal of Dispersion Science & Technology. 2016, Vol. 37 Issue 9, p1259-1267. 9p.
- Subject
- *ENHANCED oil recovery
*SURFACE active agents
*WETTING
*ADHESION
*PERMEABILITY
*OIL-water interfaces
- Language
- ISSN
- 0193-2691
Different measurements were conducted to study the mechanisms of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) by surfactant-induced wettability alteration. The adhesion work could be reduced by the surfactant-induced wettability alteration from oil-wet conditions to water-wet conditions. Surfactant-induced wettability alteration has a great effect on the relative permeabilities of oil and water. The relative permeability of the oil phase increases with the increase of the water-wetness of the solid surface. Seepage laws of oil and water are greatly affected by surfactant-induced wettability alteration. Water flows forward along the pore wall in the water-wet rocks and moves forward along the center of the pores in the oil-wet rocks during the surfactant flooding. For the intermediate-wet system, water uniformly moves forward and the contact angle between the oil–water interface and the pore surface is close to 90°. The direction of capillary force is consistent with the direction of water flooding for the water-wet surface. While for the oil-wet surface, the capillary force direction is opposite to the water-flooding direction. The highest oil recovery by water flooding is obtained at close to neutral wetting conditions and the minimal oil recovery occurs under oil-wet conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]