Characterization of Rock/Fluids Interactions at Reservoir Conditions

In this study, interfacial phenomena of spreading, wettability, and rock/oil adhesion interactions in complex rock/oil/water systems were characterized at reservoir conditions of elevated pressures and temperatures. Capabilities of both ambient and reservoir condition optical cells were used for measuring the oil/water interfacial tension and dynamic (the water-receding and the water-advancing) contact angles for various complex rock/oil/water systems. Well known sessile oil drop volume alteration method was successfully used in this study for evaluating the applicability of the modified Young’s equation for characterizing the line tension in complex rock/oil/water systems at reservoir conditions. This appears to be first time when rock/fluids interactions in complex rock/oil/water systems of petroleum engineering interest have been characterized in terms of the measured oil/water interfacial tension (IFT), wettability, line tension, and the work of adhesion at elevated pressures (up to 14,000 psi) and temperatures (up to 250°F) using representative reservoir fluids and common reservoir rock minerals surfaces (glass, quartz, dolomite or calcite). Different oil (recombined live oil and stock-tank oil) and aqueous (deionized water, synthetic reservoir brines, synthetic sea water, and 35,000 ppm NaCl solution) phases were used to study the effects of fluids composition and experimental conditions on the oil/water IFT and the wetting characteristics of complex rock/oil/water systems of petroleum engineering interest. The effect of rock mineralogy was investigated by conducting the experiments with different mineral surfaces (quartz and calcite). A new equation was developed using the concepts of the line tension and the work of adhesion to estimate the adhesion energy per unit volume correlatable to maximum disjoining pressure in complex rock/oil/water systems. This equation uses the measured data of the oil/water interfacial tension (IFT) and dynamic contact angles, and an assumed thickness of the aqueous wetting films. The experimentally estimated adhesion energy per unit volume values for two glass/recombined live oil/synthetic reservoir brine systems using this new equation were compared with the maximum disjoining pressure values derived from the published reservoir condition disjoining pressure isotherms for the glass/Yates crude oil/Yates brine systems. The experimentally estimated values were found to be one order of magnitude higher than the theoretical values

Shuttle Mission STS-50: Orbital Processing of High-Quality CdTe Compound Semiconductors Experiment: Final Flight Sample Characterization Report

The Orbital Processing of High-Quality Doped and Alloyed CdTe Compound Semiconductors program was initiated to investigate, quantitatively, the influences of gravitationally dependent phenomena on the growth and quality of bulk compound semiconductors. The objective was to improve crystal quality (both structural and compositional) and to better understand and control the variables within the crystal growth production process. The empirical effort entailed the development of a terrestrial (one-g) experiment baseline for quantitative comparison with microgravity (mu-g) results. This effort was supported by the development of high-fidelity process models of heat transfer, fluid flow and solute redistribution, and thermo-mechanical stress occurring in the furnace, safety cartridge, ampoule, and crystal throughout the melting, seeding, crystal growth, and post-solidification processing. In addition, the sensitivity of the orbital experiments was analyzed with respect to the residual microgravity (mu-g) environment, both steady state and g-jitter. CdZnTe crystals were grown in one-g and in mu-g. Crystals processed terrestrially were grown at the NASA Ground Control Experiments Laboratory (GCEL) and at Grumman Aerospace Corporation (now Northrop Grumman Corporation). Two mu-g crystals were grown in the Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) during the First United States Microgravity Laboratory Mission (USML-1), STS-50, June 24 - July 9, 1992

Enhanced oil recovery by surfactant alternate carbonated water injection

Surfactant alternate carbonated water (SACW) injection is a novel mode for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), a method to produce residual oil. This process may overcome the shortcomings that seriously associate carbon dioxide (CO2) injection such as high CO2 mobility, viscous fingering and gravity override. Combinations of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant and carbonated water (CW) system were not used for EOR yet. So, SDS and CW were selected for evaluating wettability, interfacial tension (IFT), and displacement stability. In addition, the oil recovery factor (RF) was evaluated at different reservoir conditions, carbonation levels and SACW injection cycles scenarios. The sessile drop method was used to measure the contact angle in presence of CW, SDS solution and a mixture of CW and SDS at different quartz sandstone reservoir conditions. A sandpack model was utilised for CW, SDS, water flood (WF) and CO2 flood to measure the displacement instability number (Isc). The obtained results revealed that combinations of SDS and CW system reduce the IFT and contact angle. The IFT values for SDS solution with and without carbonation were 0.2 and 2 mN/m, respectively. The respective contact angles for SDS solution with and without carbonation were 32° and 21.7° at 50°C and 1500 psi. The Isc for CW and WF were 11.6 and 10, respectively, which are considered stable at 60°C and 2750 psi. On the other hand, SDS and CO2 flood processes revealed unstable displacement. Moreover, low pH of CW system depicted a significant change in the SDS adsorption on the glass beads as compared to non-CW system. The 100% CO2 content, reservoir temperature of 60°C and pressure of 2750 psi increased RF up to 83.05, 84.42 and 85.22%, respectively. The highest RF was 86.58% which procured from the largest SDS slug scenario. In conclusion, SACW may have a positive impact on the recoverable oil and it can display a technical knowledge to study other techniques for EOR

Thermal, compositional, and salinity effects on wettability and oil recovery in a dolomite reservoir

Low salinity and composition effects in improving oil recovery in sandstone reservoirs are known. However, these effects have not been thoroughly studied for the carbonate reservoirs. Because of the lack of the clay minerals in the carbonate rocks, the mechanisms for the improved oil recovery with low salinity, brine composition, and temperature may not be the same as those for sandstones. This experimental study attempts to investigate the effects of low salinity, brine composition, and temperature on wettability and oil recovery in a dolomite reservoir. Also, it is attempted to confirm that wettability alteration is the main mechanism for improvement of oil recovery. The experiments for this study were performed at both ambient and reservoir conditions as well as at a temperature of 250°F using two different techniques, Dual-Drop Dual-Crystal (DDDC) and coreflooding. Water-advancing contact angle was measured using the DDDC technique to characterize reservoir wettability with different salinities including twice, 10, 50 and 100 times diluted brines. Also, the effect of brine composition on wettability was investigated with Yates synthetic brine, Yates synthetic brine without sulfate, and brines containing sulfate in different concentrations. In addition, the effect of temperature on wettability was investigated using DDDC technique. Coreflood experiments were carried out using a dolomite core to determine aging time, to measure the oil recovery, and to confirm whether an optimal salinity brine and an optimal composition of brine obtained contact angle measurments improve the oil recovery compared with Yates synthetic brine. Oil-water relative permeabilities were generated by history matching the oil recovery and pressure drop data obtained from the coreflood experiments. The experimental results showed that the wettability was altered from strongly oil-wet to intermediate-wet by diluting the Yates synthetic brine by about 50 times and increasing the amount of sulfate in Yates synthetic brine from 2.2 g/l to 4.4 g/l. Also, increasing the temperature to 250°F had a significant effect on wettability and changed the wettability from oil-wet to intermediate-wet. Coreflood results confirmed the wettability alteration to intermediate-wet and also demonstrated improvements in oil recovery induced by the optimal salinity and optimal brine composition

Connecting the Dots:Nanoparticles, Nanostructured Surfaces, and Wetting

The research in this thesis describes a physical way to produce nanosized particles (NPs). The inert gas condensation method with magnetron sputtering produces NPs from various single and multi-element compositions. The proper manufacturing of a monodispersed NPs beam with real size control in the nanometer range (10-9 m) combined with motif and composition control opens up many new, previously impossible opportunities (e.g., new catalyst, QDots, etc.). The different surfaces coated with these distinct NPs show wetting behavior different than the bulk solids of the same material. These nanoscale rough surfaces serve as model systems for some intriguing wetting behavior found in nature. Surfaces covered with various degrees of NPs show behavior that contradict the well-known models of wetting founded in 1805 by T. Young and later adapted for real surfaces by Wenzel and Cassie Baxter. The Hydrophobic yet high adhesion wetting behavior (known as the rose petal effect) of intrinsic hydrophilic material is explained by the pinning of the water triple line by the many small apexes from these NPs. In the wetting of surfaces, surface chemistry plays a crucial role. Clean surfaces are necessary to understand the intrinsic behavior of a (clean) surface and the subsequent role of (airborne hydrocarbon) surface contamination. This surface contamination can be removed by a UV-Ozone treatment. Moreover, the aging of Ag NPs was investigated. The aging of NPs leads to an increase in the size of the NPs, affecting it’s wetting properties. This aging is also associated with the presence of (initially invisible) Ag adatoms, remnants from the sputtering process. These adatoms were made visible due to the UV-Ozone treatment, and the imaging was (only) possible with the current state-of-the-art STEM

Microgravity Science and Applications Program Tasks, 1984 Revision

This report is a compilation of the active research tasks as of the end of the fiscal year 1984 of the Microgravity Science and Applications Program, NASA-Office of Space Science and Applications, involving several NASA centers and other organizations. The purpose of the document is to provide an overview of the program scope for managers and scientists in industry, university, and government communities. The report is structured to include an introductory description of the program, strategy and overall goal; identification of the organizational structures and people involved; and a description of each research task, together with a list of recent publications. The tasks are grouped into six categories: (1) electronic materials; (2) solidification of metals, alloys, and composites; (3) fluid dynamics and transports; (4) biotechnology; (5) glasses and ceramics; and (6) combustion

Understanding and Engineering Interfacial Adhesion in Solid-State Batteries with Metallic Anodes

Funding Information: The authors acknowledge funding for this work from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/R002010/1, EP/R024006/1 and EP/P003532/1), Shell Global Solutions International B.V., the Spanish government (TED2021‐129254B‐C22) and Horizon Europe HORIZON‐CL5‐2021‐D2‐01 “SEATBELT” 101069726.Peer reviewedPublisher PD