Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.53, No.12, 4773-4777, 2014
Modeling the Impact of Wettability Alterations on Calcium Carbonate System for Crude Oil and Asphaltenic Solutions
This study demonstrates a novel approach to examine the wettability tendency on calcium carbonate using zeta potential measurements. Different crude oil samples and asphaltenic solutions were studied and wettability profiles of limestone for these fluids were obtained using the zeta potential technique. In this study, suitable models (using Mathematica 8 and MS Excel) have been examined in order to fit the obtained data to the corresponding wettability profiles. A logistic model and a cycloid model were considered to represent the wettability profiles of limestone for crude oil and asphaltenic solutions, respectively. The R-squared value for the logistic function fit was found to be 0.99 with a standard deviation of 0.61 and a relative error of 1 X 10(-3)%. For the cycloid model, the best fit to the wettability profile for asphaltenic solutions, with different concentrations of 0.625, 1.25, and 2.5 wt %, were found to have an R-squared value ranging 0.86-0.98 with a maximum relative error of 1.33%.