Investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations

One of the techniques to increase oil recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs is the injection of low salinity water. It is shown that the injection of low salinity water changes the wettability of the rock. However, there are argumentative debates concerning low salinity water effect on changing the w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Khosravi, V., Mahmood, S.M., Zivar, D., Sharifigaliuk, H.
Format: Article
Published: American Chemical Society 2020
Online Access:https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85092013681&doi=10.1021%2facsomega.0c02133&partnerID=40&md5=56e121618d959ce49d178ab074142f90
http://eprints.utp.edu.my/29972/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id my.utp.eprints.29972
record_format eprints
spelling my.utp.eprints.299722022-03-25T03:17:14Z Investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations Khosravi, V. Mahmood, S.M. Zivar, D. Sharifigaliuk, H. One of the techniques to increase oil recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs is the injection of low salinity water. It is shown that the injection of low salinity water changes the wettability of the rock. However, there are argumentative debates concerning low salinity water effect on changing the wettability of the oil/brine/rock system in the oil reservoirs. In this regard, molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) as a tool to simulate the phenomena at the molecular level has been used for more than a decade. In this study, the Zisman plot (presented by KRUSS Company) was simulated through MDS, and then, contact angle experiments for n-decane interactions on the Bentheimer substrate in the presence of different concentrations of sodium ions were conducted. MDS was then used to simulate experiments and understand the wettability trend based on free-energy calculations. Hereafter, a new model was developed in this study to correlate free energies with contact angles. The developed model predicted the experimental results with high accuracy (R2 �0.98). A direct relation was observed between free energy and water contact angle. In contrast, an inverse relation was noticed between the ion concentration and the contact angle such that an increase in the ion concentration resulted in a decrease in the contact angle and vice versa. In other terms, increasing brine ionic concentrations in the presence of n-decane is linked to a decrease in free energies and an increase in the wetting state of a sandstone. The comparison between the developed model's predicted contact angles and experimental observations showed a maximum deviation of 14.32, which is in satisfactory agreement to conclude that MDS can be used as a valuable and economical tool to understand the wettability alteration process. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. American Chemical Society 2020 Article NonPeerReviewed https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85092013681&doi=10.1021%2facsomega.0c02133&partnerID=40&md5=56e121618d959ce49d178ab074142f90 Khosravi, V. and Mahmood, S.M. and Zivar, D. and Sharifigaliuk, H. (2020) Investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations. ACS Omega, 5 (36). pp. 22852-22860. http://eprints.utp.edu.my/29972/
institution Universiti Teknologi Petronas
building UTP Resource Centre
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Teknologi Petronas
content_source UTP Institutional Repository
url_provider http://eprints.utp.edu.my/
description One of the techniques to increase oil recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs is the injection of low salinity water. It is shown that the injection of low salinity water changes the wettability of the rock. However, there are argumentative debates concerning low salinity water effect on changing the wettability of the oil/brine/rock system in the oil reservoirs. In this regard, molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) as a tool to simulate the phenomena at the molecular level has been used for more than a decade. In this study, the Zisman plot (presented by KRUSS Company) was simulated through MDS, and then, contact angle experiments for n-decane interactions on the Bentheimer substrate in the presence of different concentrations of sodium ions were conducted. MDS was then used to simulate experiments and understand the wettability trend based on free-energy calculations. Hereafter, a new model was developed in this study to correlate free energies with contact angles. The developed model predicted the experimental results with high accuracy (R2 �0.98). A direct relation was observed between free energy and water contact angle. In contrast, an inverse relation was noticed between the ion concentration and the contact angle such that an increase in the ion concentration resulted in a decrease in the contact angle and vice versa. In other terms, increasing brine ionic concentrations in the presence of n-decane is linked to a decrease in free energies and an increase in the wetting state of a sandstone. The comparison between the developed model's predicted contact angles and experimental observations showed a maximum deviation of 14.32, which is in satisfactory agreement to conclude that MDS can be used as a valuable and economical tool to understand the wettability alteration process. Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.
format Article
author Khosravi, V.
Mahmood, S.M.
Zivar, D.
Sharifigaliuk, H.
spellingShingle Khosravi, V.
Mahmood, S.M.
Zivar, D.
Sharifigaliuk, H.
Investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations
author_facet Khosravi, V.
Mahmood, S.M.
Zivar, D.
Sharifigaliuk, H.
author_sort Khosravi, V.
title Investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations
title_short Investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations
title_full Investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations
title_fullStr Investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations
title_full_unstemmed Investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations
title_sort investigating the applicability of molecular dynamics simulation for estimating the wettability of sandstone hydrocarbon formations
publisher American Chemical Society
publishDate 2020
url https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85092013681&doi=10.1021%2facsomega.0c02133&partnerID=40&md5=56e121618d959ce49d178ab074142f90
http://eprints.utp.edu.my/29972/
_version_ 1738657041616994304
score 13.211869