Alteration of Interfacial Properties by Chemicals and Nanomaterials To Improve Heavy Oil Recovery at Elevated Temperatures
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Heavy oil containing carbonate and sand reservoirs exhibits reverse wettability characteristics. Dependent upon the temperature, phase of injected steam, and rock type, the wettability may be altered to more water-wet. The addition of chemicals to hot water (or steam) may further change the interfacial properties (more water-wet and less interfacial tension). Surfactants were tested extensively for this process in the past, and their temperature resistance was an obstacle. New-generation chemicals need further investigation from a technically and economically success point of view. The objective was to investigate the alteration of interfacial properties induced by different types of chemical agents under high-temperature conditions. To achieve this, four experimental tools (contact angle measurement, interfacial tension measurement, atomic force microscopy, and spontaneous imbibition tests) were applied. High-pressure and high-temperature contact angle measurements enabled a quick method to identify the suitability of the chemicals for wettability modification. Interfacial tension between oil and different chemical solutions was measured with a variation of the temperature. In the imbibition tests, core samples were exposed to heating for longer time periods, so that the temperature resistance of the chemicals was also tested. Imbibition experiments were conducted at ambient pressure and 90 °C. The combination of the contact angle and interfacial tension provided insight into the recovery enhancement mechanisms. Six different chemicals, including an ionic liquid, three nanofluids (silica, aluminum, and zirconium oxides), a cationic surfactant, and a high-pH solution, were chosen based on our screening study. Heavy oil used was obtained from a field in Alberta (6000 cP). Contact angles were measured on mica, calcite, sandstone, and limestone plates. The experimental temperature ranged from 25 to 200 °C, and the pressure was changed to keep the solution in the aqueous phase. Promising modifiers for different rock types under different temperatures were screened separately. Visual data illustrating the deposition of the chemicals on the surface of mica and well-polished calcite substrates and removal of the existing oil layer after the treatment with different chemicals were obtained by atomic force microscopy. Finally, spontaneous imbibition tests were performed on sandstone and limestone cores with screened promising modifiers. Oil recovery in this phase was continuously monitored to evaluate wettability alteration capability, and the mechanism(s) involved were analyzed for different chemicals. Analysis of wettability alteration mechanisms and interfacial tension reduction capabilities is expected to be useful in the selection of suitable and temperature-resistant chemicals for high-temperature applications in different reservoir rocks.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".