Energy & Fuels, Vol.34, No.10, 12291-12300, 2020
Impact of Compositional Differences in Chalk and Water Content on Advanced Water Flooding: A Microcalorimetrical Assessment
Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) was used to determine the binding interaction of advanced seawater (AW), which was produced by nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) processes, and 10 times diluted seawater (10D*SW) onto different chalk + brine + oil systems. Artificial Valhall brine (VB) was added to different types of chalk, and then crude oil was titrated into those systems. This was done to mimic mineral depositions and compositional differences that could occur in an oil reservoir. Finally, AW or 10D*SW was injected separately into the chalk + VB + oil systems. The results from the ITC experiments indicated that the adhesion energies, related to changes in wetting properties, vary significantly depending on the ionic composition of the injection fluid. Minor differences in enthalpy change were also detected depending on the chalk samples.