Experimental Study on the Mechanism and Law of Low-Salinity Water Flooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Tight Sandstone Reservoirs

Pingtian Fan; Yuetian Liu; Yuting He; Yuanping Hu; Leihui Chao; Yapeng Wang; Lang Liu; Jingpeng Li

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c07960

Experimental Study on the Mechanism and Law of Low-Salinity Water Flooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Tight Sandstone Reservoirs

ACS Omega. 2024 Mar 5;9(11):12665-12675. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c07960. eCollection 2024 Mar 19.

Authors

Pingtian Fan^{1

2}, Yuetian Liu¹, Yuting He¹, Yuanping Hu², Leihui Chao², Yapeng Wang², Lang Liu², Jingpeng Li¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China.
² Nanniwan Oil Production Plant, Yanchang Oilfield Co., Ltd., Yan'an 716000, China.

Abstract

Currently, research surrounding low-salinity water flooding predominantly focuses on medium- to high-permeability sandstone reservoirs. Nevertheless, further investigation is necessary to implement this technique with regard to tight sandstone reservoirs. The present study comprises a series of experiments conducted on the crude oil and core of the Ordos Chang 6 reservoir to investigate the influence of ionic composition on low-salinity water flooding in tight oil reservoirs. The change in wettability on the rock surface was analyzed by using the contact angle experiment. The change in recovery rate was analyzed using a core displacement experiment. The reaction between rock fluids was analyzed using an ion chromatography experiment. Additionally, a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment was used to analyze the mobilization law of crude oil and the change in wettability on the scale of the rock core. This led to a comprehensive discussion of the law and mechanism of enhancing the recovery rate via low-salinity water flooding from various perspectives. Experiments show that low-salinity water flooding is an effective technique for enhancing recovery in tight sandstone reservoirs. Altering the ionic composition of injected water can improve the water wettability of the rock surface and enhance recovery. Decreasing the mass concentration of Ca²⁺ or increasing the mass concentration of SO₄^2- can prompt the ion-exchange reaction on the rock surface and detachment of polar components from the surface. Consequently, the wettability of the rock surface strengthens, augmenting the recovery process. Nuclear magnetic resonance experiments evidence that low-salinity water injection, with ion adjustment, significantly alters the interactions between the rock and fluid in tight sandstone reservoirs. As a result, the T₂ signal amplitude decreases significantly, residual oil saturation reduces considerably, and the hydrophilic nature of the rock surface increases.