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Elkhatib O, Xie Y, Mohamed A, Arshadi M, Piri M, Goual L. Pore-Scale Study of Wettability Alteration and Fluid Flow in Propped Fractures of Ultra-Tight Carbonates. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2023; 39:1870-1884. [PMID: 36693109 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c02900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
The in situ change in oil flow behavior inside propped fractures due to wettability alteration of proppant grains and fracture surfaces was thoroughly investigated for the first time in this study. A series of microscale flow experiments were performed in mixed-wet fractured and propped miniature ultra-tight carbonate cores where the effect of wettability on oil bridging and fracture oil layer integrity was probed during oil production. During the initial production, proppant wettability changed toward an intermediate-wet state (contact angle (CA) = 96°) while that of fracture surfaces became strongly oil-wet (CA = 139°). Consequently, the fracture oil layer grew in size on both fracture surfaces and imbibed into the proppant pack through piston-like displacement and pore body filling until oil bridges were formed during oil injection. However, subsequent waterflooding induced thinning and rupturing of those bridges due to the accompanying reduction in the threshold capillary pressure of the proppant at higher aging times. The in situ chemical treatment of the proppant by a cationic surfactant (dodecyl tri-methyl ammonium bromide) could reverse its wettability toward weakly water-wet state (CA = 78°) after oil solubilization from the sand grains followed by substitutive surfactant adsorption. Surfactant injection also impacted the wettability of the fracture surface due to oil solubilization, reducing its mean contact angle down to an intermediate range (CA = 99°). As a result, the following oil production cycle yielded a smaller fracture oil layer. The surfactant effect on proppant wettability lasted for 2 weeks while its effect on fracture wettability lasted for more than 6 weeks. Similar flow cycles were performed with an anionic nanoparticle (graphene quantum dot) with hydrogen bonding ability. The nanoparticle solution yielded a quick reduction of the proppant and fracture surface contact angles to nearly 77° and 115°, respectively. Proppant wettability alteration occurred because the nanoparticles self-assembled at the three-point contact region between adsorbed oil and quartz surfaces, leading to oil solubilization in intermediate-wet regions while oil-wet regions remained unchanged. Therefore, re-introducing oil into the fracture instantaneously re-instated the initial wettability state of proppant grains (CA = 88°), deeming the nanoparticle solution ineffective. This study revealed that oil production through hydraulic fractures can be enhanced by monitoring the wettability of the proppant pack. If the production has a high water cut, it is beneficial to use chemical agents that reduce the proppant contact angles to a weakly water-wet state in order to preserve the hydraulic conductivity of the oil layer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omar Elkhatib
- Center of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, Wyoming82071, United States
| | - Yun Xie
- Carl Zeiss Shanghai Co. Ltd., 60 Mei Yue Road, Shanghai200131, China
| | - Abdelhalim Mohamed
- Piri Technologies, 1000 E. University Ave., Dept., 4311, Laramie, Wyoming82071, United States
| | - Maziar Arshadi
- Piri Technologies, 1000 E. University Ave., Dept., 4311, Laramie, Wyoming82071, United States
| | - Mohammad Piri
- Center of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, Wyoming82071, United States
- Piri Technologies, 1000 E. University Ave., Dept., 4311, Laramie, Wyoming82071, United States
| | - Lamia Goual
- Center of Innovation for Flow through Porous Media, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, Wyoming82071, United States
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Wei-Hsin Sun E, Bourg IC. Impact of organic solutes on capillary phenomena in water-CO2-quartz systems. J Colloid Interface Sci 2022; 629:265-275. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.08.124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Revised: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Pourakaberian A, Mahani H, Niasar V. Dynamics of electrostatic interaction and electrodiffusion in a charged thin film with nanoscale physicochemical heterogeneity: implications for low-salinity waterflooding. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2022.129514] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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