Elucidating Wettability Alteration on Clay Surface Contacting Mixed Electrolyte Solution: Implications to Low-Salinity Waterflooding
Authors: Araujo I. S. , Heidari Z. 
Published: November 2024

Many mechanisms have been proposed in the literature to explain wettability alteration at low-salinity waterflooding (LSWF). Some of these mechanisms include electrical double layer (EDL) expansion, multi-ion exchange, and cation hydration. However, no consensus has been reached on which one is the key mechanism in low-salinity enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Moreover, the mechanisms by which low-salinity flooding can enhance oil recovery are poorly understood. Parameters such as salinity, electrolyte type, oil components, and presence of clay minerals are often associated with the degree to which the injection of low-salinity water increases oil production. Therefore, an investigation of the geochemistry of the clay/fluid interface is crucial to understand the role of petrophysical properties such as wettability on oil production. We use molecular dynamics (MD) to (i) quantify the impacts of different types of oil components, electrolytes, and its mixture at varying ionic strengths on interfacial properties and (ii) investigate wettability alteration by means of water adsorption quantification.

We investigate the brine/clay and oil/brine/clay interfacial interactions involved in the adsorption of ions and water molecules onto the clay surface. Clay is represented by illite, and brine is composed of water molecules and different electrolyte types such as NaCl, CaCl2, and their mixtures at varied concentrations. The oil components investigated in this work include decane (C10H22), decanoic acid (CH₃(CH₂)₈COOH), and sodium decanoate (C10H19NaO2). These components were selected to represent the range of oil molecules typically found in reservoirs, which include nonpolar, polar, and charged polar molecules.

Initially, we set up systems composed of different ion composition and salinity to investigate the effect of these parameters on EDL structure and water adsorption. Then, we created systems composed of mixed electrolyte and different oil components to verify the impacts of these molecules on the oil/brine/clay interface. Finally, we increased the NaCl concentration in the system containing sodium decanoate to investigate the role of Na in wettability alteration. MD simulations were performed at 330 K, and particle density profiles of water, hydrocarbon, and ions inside the illite nanopores were computed.

We observed that the ion composition and salt concentration of the systems composed of clay minerals and brine do not result in significant changes in the adsorption planes of cations. For the same systems, we also computed the number of water molecules per unit cell in each hydration layer. We observed that the change in the thickness of these hydration layers is also very small. The results showed that nonpolar-charged hydrocarbon molecules have the lowest mobility, suggesting that this component has a more intense interaction with the illite surface compared with other hydrocarbons. Additionally, snapshots of the simulation indicate that calcium preferentially forms bridges with sodium decanoate molecules compared with other organic components. Despite being widely known as an efficient method for achieving EOR, the underpinning mechanism for wettability alteration at LSWF is still not fully understood. The outcomes of this work improve our understanding of the key parameters affecting interactions at the oil/rock/brine interface during LSWF.