Optimized Salinity Injection Water for Enhanced Oil Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current enhanced oil recovery methods face challenges due to the complexity of oil-producing wells, including varying rock formations, chemical compositions, and dynamic changes during waterflooding, making it difficult to achieve efficient and cost-effective oil recovery.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the analysis of produced water to determine production metrics, estimation of optimized metrics, and alteration of the water to create a treated injection water that approximates these metrics, which is then injected into the hydrocarbon reservoir to enhance oil recovery, using techniques such as dilution or addition of acids, bases, and salts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional waterflooding methods are used, then oil recovery is achieved through simple water injection, but recovery efficiency is limited due to gross heterogeneities in rock matrix and low sweep efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by modifying the chemical composition parameters of the injected water, specifically adjusting salinity levels. The method involves analyzing produced water to determine optimal salinity parameters and then adjusting the injected water composition accordingly. This chemical parameter modification enables better interaction with the rock matrix and oil phase, improving sweep efficiency and recovery effectiveness without requiring complex mechanical systems.
2Reliability
If produced water is analyzed and adjusted to optimize injection water composition, then displacement efficiency is improved, but analysis and treatment processes add operational complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by analyzing produced water composition to determine optimal injection water parameters. The analysis of produced water provides feedback information about reservoir conditions, rock matrix interactions, and oil phase characteristics. This feedback loop enables continuous optimization of the injected water composition, improving displacement efficiency while maintaining operational simplicity through automated analysis and adjustment processes.
3Productivity
If salinity of injected water is optimized based on produced water analysis, then interfacial tension is reduced and miscibility is improved, but requires chemical analysis and water treatment facilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies self-service by using the produced water itself as the basis for optimizing the injected water composition. Instead of requiring completely separate water sources or complex external treatment systems, the method utilizes the existing produced water analysis to guide the adjustment of injection water salinity. This self-service approach reduces the need for external chemical analysis facilities and simplifies the overall system while still achieving improved interfacial tension reduction and miscibility.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for adaptive and tailored enhanced oil recovery methods that optimize oil production by accounting for specific rock formations and dynamic changes, leading to increased hydrocarbon recovery and improved displacement efficiencies.
Implementation Method 1
Waterflooding recovers oil by the water moving through the reservoir as a bank of fluid that displaces the oil ahead of it
Implementation Method 2
When certain chemical agents are added to an oil-brine system, it is possible to reduce the interfacial tension by several orders of magnitude, thereby greatly improving their miscibility
Implementation Method 3
The addition of large-molecular-weight molecules called polymers to an injected water may increase the effectiveness of a conventional waterflood. Polymers are sometimes added to the water in concentrations ranging from 250 to 2000 parts per million (ppm). A polymer solution is more viscous than a brine without polymer
Implementation Method 4
The degree to which a rock is either oil-wet or water-wet is strongly affected by the adsorption or desorption of constituents in the oil phase. Large, polar compounds in the oil phase can absorb onto solid surfaces leaving an oil film that may alter the wettability of the surface
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for enhanced oil recovery from subterranean formations by treating a produced water prior to injection into the subterranean hydrocarbon reservoir and manipulating produced water compositions to increase the rate and/or amount of oil that is recovered from producing wells and/or a hydrocarbon reservoir. The treatment of the produced water can increase the pH of the water from about 0.75 to about 2.0.