SPE 13580

A Chemical Displacement Model for Alkaline Steamflooding in

Linear Systems
by C,LJ, Okoye, C. KOU-JOU, D. Tiab, and A. Hayatdavoudi, U. of Southwestern Louisiana

SPE Members

O@yright 1S85, Sockty of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was praasntad at the International Symposium on OMield and Geothermal Chemistry held in Phoenix, Arizona, April 9-11, 1985. The material
ia subject to mrractkm by the author, Permission to copy is restricted to an abatracf of not more than 300 words. Write SPE, P.O. Sex 8S8636, Richardson,
Texas 75Q8S-S8S8, Telex: 73G989 SPE DAL.

sweeps the louer part of the formation in a semi-misci-

ble mode. The ccmbined oil recovery frm the upper par
A chemicai equilibriumfiow modei that incorporatesof tinefonration —.-
swept by st=Tl and the ICXWWZ-
part of
conductiveand convectiveheat transfer is presented fox the formation swept by a surfactantslug in caustic hot
continuousalkaline steam f100ding of acidic oils in water, will in~se the ultimate steam fhod oil
linear systems. The chemical aspect of the mdel con- recwery.
sists of the chemislxyof acid hydrolysisat elevated
temperatures,resulting in in-situ generationof surfac- Model Description
tants and the interactionof the alhli with reservoir 6,7,8
rock at high temperatures,leading to alkali consump- In recent times, several investigators have pre-
tion. The adso.-ption and desorptionof active species sent d models for caustic water flrxding. Breit et
at the interfacesare expressedas ionic processes us~ al’sE mcdel.includedhydroxide consumptionby irrevw-
the GQuy-Chapnantheory of diffuse double layers. sible reck reaction,resulting in POSS”~le precipita-
tion of diva.lentions. deZabala et al. expanded the
The nmdel predicts that the surfactantslug generatti former mxlel by accountingfor the reaction with and
ti-situ in alkaline flccding increaseswith temperature the extractionof surface active cmnponentsin the oil
- that, while adsorptionof surfactantincreaseswith into the aqueous phase. Ramakrishnanand Wasan8, in
temperature,there is a net increase in surfactantsl~ the nmst recent model, revealed the dependencyof in-
size to recover otherwise immbiie oii, leading to terfaciaipotentiai cm variaNLes sdll as caustic cm=
higher Ofi KKOV~ . centrationand salinity.

INTRODUCTION All these mcdels dealt with the chemistryof caustic

water flooding. The effect of temperatureon caustic-
Steam flooding is the nmst developed,the most effec- oil ad caustic-recktiteractionwas not addressed.
tive and most widely used methcd for recoveringheavy Since this model is for caustic steam flcodng, the
to intermediate(lCP to 30°) API gravity oils. In spit~ effect of temperatureon the reaction kinetics of caus-
of the effemotivenessof steam drive in enhancingheavy tic-oil and caustic-reckis fully examined. In design-
oil recovery, the basic mechaniem is flawed by the ten- ing a caustic steam flood model, one is confrontedwitl
dency of st-,, because of gravity segregation,to overx the task of relating the physical, chemical and thermal
ride the lower portion of the fcmnation, tiich beccanes WOPSrtieS of reservoir fluid-rockinteractionto the
in effect unswept, being floaled by hot o warm conden- severalrecovery mechanisms involved in the steam-
12
sate. Fkm field and laboratorystudies ~ , it is chemicalrecovery process. While importantproperties
lumwn that in the upper portion of the formationor such as interracialtension, relative permeabilityies,
core, which is swept by steam, the ??esidualoil satura- viscositiesand adsorptionand desorptionof active
tion is near ze?m, while in the lower portion swept by spcies at the interfaceswill be coupled among mechan-
hot water, the residual oil remains substantialbecause sins,.specificasmnnptionswill be made about the
the hot water is not as effectiveaa steam in displaci.nfrecovery mdmisms sensitivityto rock and fluid pzm-
oil fmn the cool formation. psrties.
3,4,5
Some investigators have suggestedthat poor ver- This model consists of four components: (1) steam
tical confonnance in steam flooding,due to garvity zone development,(2) temperaturedistributionahead of
override, can be improvedby using a chemical additive the advancing steam zone, (3) system chemistryad (4)
in steam flood to reduce oil saturationk the lower system fluid displacement. The mcdel Imdly as’ames:
part of the formation. a FsanOgeneouslinear system, equilibriummass transfem!
constant compositionof injectedfluid, constant injec-
In designing this model, the basic concept is for tion rate, infinite slug size (causticsteam) and an
the alkaline in the flood stream to -et with organic absence of dispwsion.
acid in the oil to generate surfactantin-situ. The
surfactantwill be carried in the lmt water zone, which
 .

9 .. .—
A CHFMICALDISPLACEMENTMODRL
-.-—---——_——-—-__—. FOR ALKALINE STEAMFLOODINGIN LINEAR SYSTEMS SPE 13580
Steam Zone Eevelopnent for tD > tm:

The ~cent analyticmdel for steam displacementpm 0.5 0.5 .

psed by Yortsos and Gavalasg~lOwasused to estimate Lsad (tD) = 2atD - 2at~ + Lad (t~) . . . (5)
tk size of the steam z ne. Based on our analysis of
severaltielsg~lO~llJ1?simulatingsteam flocding, a
Yortsosand Gavalas’nmdel appears to provide the nmt ‘hm:L~d(t~)=(t)o.5 . . . . . . ....(6)
adzaustivetreatmentof the grcwth of the steam zone
IkJ
bcause it takes into account the effect of heat trans-
fer by conductionin the zone ahead of the steam front where “a” is the nmdel parameter for tie Stefan problem
in steam zone develo~t. Their model also is broader and satisfies
in scope, because it applies to arbitrary system gecme-
&yand is nonrestricted by the injectionrate factor.
9,10 3.14a2 1.7725a
In two-part studies Yortsos and Gavalas were able exp (— )=1-F........(7)
to cast the thermal energy balance across the steam (1-F)2)@fc( 1 _ F
zone and the water-and-oilzone in titegral form. The
solutionof the resultant equationyielded the upper where F is the dimensionlessparameter and is the ratic
h lcwer bounds for steam zone velocitiesand the of the latent heat to the total heat injected.
steam zone volume.

The eme~ balance equation for the Yortsos and fs

%mlas mcdel is given as: F= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (8)
fs + Nst
Lsf(t)
AT ~r Mldx + IIF(t)ATC~cvf[t)+ Yhcdf(t)]+
dt 0
+t. v.... ............ (9)
2 Lsf(t) aTf k
-J (-khf —)2dx = [Ws(t)+Ww(t)]~w AT+
ho an
TemperatureDistributionAhead of Advancing St- Zone
Ws(t)Lv . . . . . . . . . (1)
For tiis mdel, we adopt a theoretical&eatient
Equation (1) in dimensionlessform becomes for a short presentedby Durie13. Durie’s analytical. mcdel is an
time: extensionof Lauwerier’ S14 theoreticalvmrk which des-
-<
u ha +ha
—“ . ..-
+mnna
.-. y.. TU+I
--- ~ . A
--- i c+nfiJ~~oD.
. . ~1. = ~~n.e &ive

tD Lsfd(Td)‘Td . * system undergoinghot water tijection. Durie altered

2Lsfd(t$ + f. the koundary conditionsto represent the situationfor
(tD-Td)’J”5 lD “ - “ - “ “ “ “(2) steam injection.

Where o < tD < t~ and ~fd(o) = O Figure 1 shcws the schematicof the idealizedverti-
cal cross-section. Durie’s analyticalsolution is give
For a long time (tD > t~), the steam flcod velccity is as:
k:-k
llJ#l
---..
uluU&l
-1..-~
allu
+ho
LA,=
k-.
..-!-
+ $1 ,V in+-
.AA
~~.~
a..”
1 in! Ii d ~~p=~
.-=---
~S

not negligible. The latent heat balance that takes the

effect of preheatingis given by Yortsos aml Gavalas A(XD+YD) A2(TD-XD)
as: TD(XD,YD,TD)= % SXP{—} exp{ }
e(A-1) e(A-1)2
M(2)
2(1-F)2 aTD tD aTf
2B~fd(tD) - (—) —+ f-o(— — A/( TD-XD) (XD + YD) tx~+yD)
an ‘D %fd%)
IIR Ml axD erfc{ + + *rf c{ }.(1C
& (A-1) 2AiT m 2A7 /( TD-XD)
dlD= F......(3)
ATD>XD, A<l
The second term is the conductiveheat flux to the
liquid zone, and the third term is the lateralheat The temperaturePf ile across the linear porous mediun
loss frwn the steam zone. The Laplace Transformtech- is obtained by evaluatingequation (10) using the velo-
nique can be used to separate the linear and non-linear cities arilsize (length)of the steam zone obt~ed
----
p, Lb. m.
11 r=
.-..1
app~lua
: . ..+.,.- -s
LAUL 1 WA
+-ha
.11s
. ,nnam
Uyyu
hn, ,tvi.
-u LU.
.l’lrl 1 A,.EW
u ..4 h“”-.
~
..-,, +ko
. . .= -A-l
,,--- Anemm{hud
.4--- —— mm7fm11sl
=. -. -----, v. .

bounds on the lateralheat losses and heat fluxes to

the hot liquid zone yields the solutionsto the length
of the steam zone. system chemistry

For O < tD < th: The ideal chemical?mdel for caustic flood@ shoulc
considerthe effects of: al~ine-cil, alkaline-reser-
0.5 voir water, and alkaline-reservoirrock reactions.
%fd ‘tD) = 0.637 {tD - 1 + eXp(O.785tD) other parametersof mpmtance
. to the model include:
interracialtension, fluid viscosity,diffusion,dispel
sion and thermal effects on reaction rates and on flow
erfc(o.886 tD0“5)1 . . . (4) and physicalparameters.

.x$lJ
?E 13580 C.U. OKOYE, C. KOU-JOU, . TIA8 & A. HAYATDAVOUDI
The three amects of the chemistryof caustic steam he distributionratio of the insolublesalt is given
lcoding are: - E.:

1) reaction between basic cations and the acidic (NaAJ

anions in the ~esence of other species15,result- ‘DS
= — . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. (19
tig in the generationof surfactant. (NaAJ
2) ionic interactionof surface active species at the
interfaceof oil and water, leading to adsorption CDS<< 1
and desorptionat the interfaces.
3) reaction of scdiurnhydroxide ions with ions fran he dissociationconstant is defined as:
rock mineral content=,lead~ to caustic consmnp-
tion and adsorptionof surface active species on (Na+)(A-)
mck surfaces. (20
%=
(NaAw)”.....”....... . . . .
ince this mdel is for alkaline steam displacement,
he effect of temperatureon the system chemistry is he effect of temperatureis reflected when equation
Ully tr=ted. :20)is expressedas:
5,6,7,8
As adopted by previous investigators the dis- o .0
tributionof cmnplex acid in the oil and water phases
rhmra +ha
,..-.
=Ilral+mo
u.-
cnl)l+<nn
-.-L---
pQ~@s w~t_h-
“-L.4.A-..
CIW& ~il iS L.rJ
KS =
p NaAw - p Na+ - ‘“A-
. . . . . . . . . . . (21
xpressed by these equations. The dissociationcon- RT
:tantfor water is given as:
the overall nmlal equilitiiu mrequires:
~=(H30+)(OH-) . . . . . . . . . . . (11)

he acid distributionratio is’defbed as: INa+lCA-l

$S=Ks~S= (22
(I-I&) D’Ja&l . . . . . . . . . . . . .
= — . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (12)
‘D
(H&)
Since the surfactantis the active specie at the inter-
md the acid dissociationconstant is given as: face between the oil and water phases, the titerfacial
tensionwill be related to the concentration,CA-l,of
(H30+)(A-) 4-. In otier to calculatethe concwtration, ~, at tk
(13) interface,tie rate of adsorptionand desorptionof A-
‘A =
(HIQ......”..... &ould be estimated. The equation for adsorptionand
resorptionat the interfaceswas given, respectively,
%e temperaturedependencyof these constants is re- by Ramalaishnanand Wasan8 as:
lected in the followingequations:
MA-
~A-
= Kad (A-)s (1-fs) ‘ ~d(A-)s ~ ‘— . . “ (2:
x %x]

PQMW - POmo ‘dMA- -Ea

lnKD= . . . . . . . . . . . . . (151
= ‘de (MA-) exp (-) . . . . . . . . . . . .(2L
RT dt RT

poww - p0H3G+ _ POA where MA- is the nwnber of roles of A- per unit area at
in KA = . . . . . . (16; the interface,fs is the atio~ s~face cov~ ~Y
RT. adsorptionand is equal to MA-/&; ~ is.the ~~
number of ~leS that can be adsorbed per Untl area; &d
rherePO is the standard chemical potent=. On the is the adsorptionrate constant;Kde is the desqtion
~sis of tie hydrophobicnature of the stiaightchain rate constant; Ea is the activationene~ bier for
mtxxyl acids, estimationsof KD and KA are mde as adsorptionper rode; R is the gas constant and T is the
‘Ollows: 3bsolutetemperature. Add~ equations (23) and (24)
gives the net adsorptionas:
3250.9866
= exp{ } . . . . . . . .. (17) ~A- ‘A-
b - Kde(MA-)eXp(S). . . . (2$
0.55 (T-32) + 273.16 = Kad(A-)s (1 -—)
-z-’ RT
-4498.787
= exp{ } . . . . . . . .. (18) At equilibrium:
‘A
0.55 (T-32) + 273.16
MA- ‘a
~A-
kveral investigates5 Y8>16have observed that as the —= O = Kad(A-)s (1 -—) - Kde(MA-)eXp(-). . (2[
:o~entration of NaCl increases,the minimum interface dt RT
:ensionoccurs at a lower NaOH concentration. Yem et
~.17 ~psed that am Undisscxi.ated
salt which iS non- and equation (21) can be solved to obtain the concen-
nterfacially active is aleo formed by caustic-acid tration of surfactant.
n+orueti
-.. —--- . nn.
. . ..

The sublayer concentration, CA-IS, m be evaluated

II
4 A CHENICAL DISPLACEMENTMODEL POR ALKALINE STEAMPLOODINGIN LINEAR SYSTEMS SPE 135/
Frcm the bulk concentration, CA-l,by the BOl_hIWH’I 7A12Si205 (OH)q + 8Si04 + 2Na+ = 2Na A17Sil~030 (OH)6
?quationas follows:
.+ 7H20 + 2H+. . . (33;
‘(ZA-)y(0)E
IA-Is= CA-lw( ) . . . . . . . . . . (27)Kaoliniteand quartz will react with sodiwn cations to
m form albite.

.JherezA- is the valency of A- = -1, E is the electronicA12Si205 (OH)q + 4Si02 + 2Na+ = 21MlSi308 + H20 + 2H+
~eand Kis the Boltzmannconstant;Y(0) isthe Gouy
~tential at a distance zero fran the interfaces;i.e. . . . . (34:
the potentialat the sublayer. When equation (27) is
mbstituted into equation (26) at equilibrium,i.e. Smectiteand quartz adsorb sodium cations to fonnal-
~A-/dt ❑O, bite.

NaA17Si11030(OH)6 + 10Si02 + 6Na+ = 7~Si308 + 6H+

%$A- Ea + NEy(I))
m-l = exp[- ].....(28) . . . (35:
Kad(l-MA-/&) RT
The above equatbns may be simplifiedby the following
~hereN is Avogadro’snmnber. The potentialY(0) is equation:
~ivenby:
MH+Na++O~=MNa+H20 . . . . . . . . . . . (36;
-21CT (MA-)E N%
F(o) =— sirdl-l[ 1 (29)whereM is the mineral exchange site.
E 23’2(~Eo)%(KT)%& ““”””
It is obvious frcxnthe discussionabove that sane
tiers co is the permittivityof the vacuum, Cr is the caustic slug will be consumed due to intemction with
relativepermittivityof the medim, and C = Cm + C2 mck materials. Wough caustic slug nmt be made avail-
is the total univalent electrolyteconcentration. able for effectiveoil
flooding. The m~fi~~ev ‘W* Caustic st=
adsorptionequation can be
constant fen?the used to express the adsorptionof caustic in this
From equation (28), the equililn?ium
yocess is: mess.

~d (MA-) exp{-(ca +NcY(0))/RT} Kl(l-e~)Lrl= K2e ~..... . . . . . .. (37)

%q’—= . . . . . (30;
‘de (A-)(l-M& /~) where tie rate of adsorption Kl(l - cad)CA-l,the rate
❑

of desorption. K2 cad, K1 is the adsorptionrate COn-

Ihe tempaature dependencyof the equilibriumconstant stant, K2 is the desorptionrate constant, ead is the
..-. --
is reflectedwhen this relationshipis considered. fraction of the totai surface and i.A-lis the conc@Lrti-
tion of surfactantin the solution. The amount of caus-
I log &q , -4 tic adsorbed per unit volume of pore space is given as:
— . . . . . . . . . . . .. (31)
d(l/T) 2.303 R “ ‘ Ka#4a~ CA-l
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . (38)
b =
I’neheat of adsorption,A&, can thereforebe obtained 1 + Kadr~-]
From the SJope of the plot of log &q VS. VT. For
iifferenttemperatures,the equilibriumconstant can be where ~~ is the maxinnnnadsorptivecapacity per unit
xml.uatedby the followingexpression: volume of pore space. C.E. Johnson19gavethe minimum
volume of caustic slug per unit volume of pore space as:
Qq(T2) ~
-— (~ - 2) . . . . . . . . . . .. (32. Mad K2adr+?a& IA-l
d &d
&q(T~) 2.303 R T2 T1 Vs= —-—= (39:
G%-l d~-] (l+ Ka&~-])2 . “ . . “ . .

Adsorption by Rock The volume of water per unit volume of pore space which
mst be injwted behind a surfactantslug to nmve any
Oxnpred with the concentrationof Na+ mtions, the concentration, CA-l,on the trailing edge to the end of
xxmrtratia of surfactantis tco small to affect the tie reservoir,the productionwell, is:
werell rock adecrption;hence! the adsorptionof sur-
factantat the @ surfacemay be neglected. The ad- d Mad ‘ad#a&ax
scmption,lmwever, of Na+ cation will affect the sur- Vw=l+ —=1+ (40;
Eactantfront, and this will be treated in the fluid d CA-l (l+ Kad#-])2 ”..”..”
displacementsection.
The effect of heat on the rate of adsorptioncan be
A sedimentaryres=h group18usingequililn?ium estimatedby consideringthe followingrelationship:
Phase relationshipsinvest” ated the quartz and clay
nineralreactions k the Na3 cation envinxnnent. Kao- Ka&(T2 )
Lfiiteand quartz will react with sodium cations to log .-~ (:-:) . . . . . . . .. (41.
Form smectite. K~(T1) 2.303 R T2 T1

The surfactantconcentration, CA-l,h equations(38)

and (40) should be evaluated frcnnequation (28).
---
 .

SPE 13580 C. U. OKOYE, C. KOU-JOU, D. TIA8 & A. HAYATDAVOUDI 5

Fluid Displacement ~ 481 * ~0-7T2}... (51

‘or(T)= 1 - {81.341 + 0.0386T - .

The displacementof acidic oil during caustic steam

lcodingmay & seprated into two prccesses: steam ‘orhot caustic flcoding:
isplacementof the upper zone and caustic hot water
The extended Buckley-Lever-
*’9 1>
tte ‘i‘displacement
‘he ‘me’ ‘ne”
nvxielwas used to compare the oil ‘ore(T)= 1 - 10-2{78.7657 + 0.05132T - 3.972 * 10-8T2]
ecovery performancein caustic steam fl~ing with con-
ventionalsteam flocding. This model applies to the . . . . . \52
ractionalflow of fluids in a linear system in which Uso based on correlationfrwn experimen&l data2>4*
mnposition,temperatureand saturationcan vary. It *e relationshipsbetweem tempsmture and viscosityare
oes sinulatea semi-miscibledisplac~t of oil by a
urfactantslug in the hot water zone during caustic ‘or hot water flooding:
team flooding.

In the BucJdey-Ieverettedisplac-t theory, the log (uo)= - 0.5158 * 10-2T+ 2.864 . . . . . . . (53
ractionalflow for hot water flood is given as:

1 ‘orhot caustic water flooding:

w(T) = . . . . . . . . . . . . (42
Kro(T)p#)
— —
1 + lfJT) UO(T) me tempewture effect on water viscosity was also
?valuated,using experimentallydetenni.nedcorrelation
he fractionalflow equation for hot caustic water zquation,and is given as:
hod is:
1776 - T
1 ~. (55
WC(T) = . . . . . . . . . . . (43 26.5T-89”””..”.”””” ““
%(T) ~c(T)
1+ me mechanism of caustic flood can be conceptualizedas
~(~) ~w(T) :-.-1.,1=-
.,vv. v~% Kl>
,=+ fid~~OP. MP adsmnk~ @ n22k surfaces
Me (1-1-
anion reacts w~~h-~~&oxide (H30+) cation to
he empirical correlationequationsgiven by Larson and mxluce water and liberating (A-), which is the surfac-
irasaki21were used with experimentaldata to evaluate :ant. If the anmunt of Na+ adsorbed is equal to that o
he relative penneabilities. These equationsare given {OH_)involved in the reaction with organic acid, a
elcw. nateri.al balance can be made in terms of OW to reflect
the amount of surfactantgenerated. Thus:
or hot water flooding:
%
Km(T) ❑ KOw(T){n%(T)} . . . . . . . (44 [q f#)x dt - (q f~)x+dxdt = %j~)dtdx
at
%(T) = fim(T){l - ~(T)}pw . . . . . (45
a
~ - ~i(T) +— (AQt)dtdx . . . . . (56
here ‘%(T) = (46 at
l-~i(T)-Sor(T) ““””””
#here C is the concentrationof [OH-Iin the water
~se, q is the volumetricflow rate, fw is the frac-
or mustic hot water flocding: tionalflow of the water phase, A is the cross-sectiom
‘c
w?ea end $ is the pm?osity. The noles of ~ equal to
%(T) = ‘OXWC(T) ‘n%C(T)] “ “ “ “ “ ’47 rolesof Na+ adsorbed by the mck can be expressedas
follows:
%x(T) = ‘o- (T) {1 - ~c(T)}pc . . . (48
orb &
~ - ~ic(T) QoH- =Q&+=(n)C . . . . . . . . . .(57
here %c(T) = ~ (49 %nw
- %ic(T) - Sem(T) . “ “ “
& the qtl~tity of solute transferredto anothe
~.ee (j

b experimentalinvestigations2 3‘240n the effect of pkse, Prb is the bulk density of ?mck, ~ is the maxi
Tture on irreduciblewater saturation,the mm concentrationof interracialspecie in water, and
ollomng correlationwas obtained: ~ is the maximwn concentrationof Na+ on rock. If
squation (57) is substitutedin equation (56) and tie
-4 resultingequation is expanded by the Taylor series, it
Wi(T] = 17.774 - 0.0219T + 1.909T2 * 10 . . . . (50 ~ives:

a a
ased on experimentaland field data, the effect of -— (qfwc) = — (~C@A + A pr~ & C/~) . . . . (5E
emperatureon irreducibleoil saturationcan be ex- ax at
ressed with the follcwing correlationequations:
Ihe Buckley-Leverette25
frontal displacementequation
br hot water flooding: gives:
 .

6 A CNEMICAL DISPLACEMENTMODEL FOR AIX LINE STEAMFLOODINGIN LINEAR SYSTEMS SPE 13580
afw 3SW iwn the curves that nmre oil is recovered by caustic
q— =A@ — . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. (59. ;teamflocdingthan by conventionalsteam flooding for
ax at :he same steam temperature. It does, however, take
mre pcre volume of caustic steam to achieve this incre
ultiplyingequation (59) by C and equating it to equa- nentalrecovery of about 15%. Figure 7 shows that akov
ion (58), them simplifyinggives: ~ steam temperatureof 310°F, themal effects cease to
mhance -ustic flocdng recovery mechanisms. This may
ac q iw E attributedto therral degradationof the in-situ
-!—) ;eneratedsurfactants and it does agree with our exper-
“at” Ad nentalresultszJ5. If a resexwoirwere to have a verti
—= (60; =1 temperatureprofile ranging frwn 7O°F to 35O°F, the

(3 q+ b%?? ““””””””””” ~covery curve at average temperatureis shown in Figur

1 by a solid curve.
at +&
The saturationprofties showing chemical ccm@si-
efirhg: :ionalsaturationshcck fronts for 0.25 and 1.0 pae
/olumesof slug are shown in Figures 8 and 9, respec-
P% %? hv”ery-.
m.
Ulc
.k..v .J.v....
CM,—
win+= -*--., ~ ~ a ~_sult of caustic
=b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (61: ?lcodgenerated surfactantpropagatingoil bank, which
Wnw mllides with normal water flcod. For a reservoirwith
i vertical temperatureprofile, as describedpreviously
q fvl/A~
.--!the
. .saturationprofile
. . . . .. at average reservoirtemperature
:-1 x~gti
P:-------
v(c) = (b’/, LS clep~ctea W me soiid curve JJ ~= Qv -AU
.-A Cl
..
~+1) ““”””””””-”””” ~~(~- ) denotes the ultimate water saturationat the
trallmg edge of the surfactantpulse. SW2 is the wate
he specific velccity then becomes: saturationat caustic ~h, and %1 is the wate
~aturation of the oil bank.
A@ V(c) fw
u(c) = = — . . . . . . . . . . (63:
q Sw+b CONCLUSIONS

21,22 1. A linear chemical displacementmxiel which incorpo-

sing the extended Buckley-kverette and Welges
~aphiaal methods, the displacementpe?rfonnanaes
of
onventionalsteam and caustic steam &ives were ccm-
ered.
ESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The purpose of this study was to simulatecaustic
locding of acidic oil in linear systems. ThemKL
ffects on caustic flccding recovery mechanismswere
hewn to enhance oil recovery perfonmnce. The in-
rease in caustic consumptionat elevated temperatures
as overwhelmedby the substantialimgnmvementin the
fficiencyof the recovery mcknism.
rates thermal effects on recovery mechanismsof
caustic water flood is formulatedfor alkaline stea
flooding. This was achieved by examining,at eleva
ted temperatures,the chemistryof acid hydrolysis
,~hl=.l
~m.gp.tact ~~tb.al~i and the adsorptionand
desorptionof surface active species at the inter-
faces.
2. The flow componentof the model uses the extended
Buckley-Leverettetheory, which includesIMSS trans
fer effects that occur in chamical flooding. The
mass transfer effects are adsorptionof chemicals
onto rock surfaces and displacementof inmobile oil
by the surfactant.

Figure 2 shows the,temperaturep?ofile in the reser- 3. The tiel predicts that about 15% more oil can be
oir during steam or caustic steam flooding. The
esults of the sindated profile were used to develop
&cti n-l f~~w c~e~ SbWII in J3gwws 3, 4 and 5,
hich are for conventionalsteam flooding,caustic
team flmxiing and the superpositionof the tvm pro-
esses, respectively. The improvementin oil recovery
echanisms due to thermal effects is shown by the
L:c+
JAu L ,“.
+1.
w.L, “
, an L1.crssse+m t~t~-P_~~meOf the fractional
- A
low curves to the right. Fmthernmre, Figure 5 ShUJS
hat the chemicai recovery mechanismsare enhancedmm
t higher tempemtures than at lcwer tempemtures. For
xample, at 700F caustic flcoding is no better than
faterflooding. In fact, caustic f100ding shws signi-
“lcantlyimprovedrecovery over water flooding fran
,500’Fupwards. This therefore questionsthe rationale
Ifcaustic water flooding in reservoirswith low tem-
peratures . Previous experimentalinvestigations33 5 do NCNINCLATURE
~upp@t the findings of this study that caustic flood-
ng may require a minimnn temperaturebefore it can en-
recoveredby caustic steam flcoding than by conven-
tioml steam flooding at the sane steam temperature
This predicted ticremental recovery agrees fairly
well with our experimentalvalues t“~t ranged
between 9% and 20%.
k. Caustic consumptionis shown to increasewith
temperatureh- this mdel, but so is the increment
oil recovery. Akove 3100F, however, the ccmbined
-= Laun
effee?s UL .-..-+:
LLC
- LU1
---e..mn+~a~ ==A il~-=~~t;
Luw,lp L.I.”. . u ..A u-~. -— -----
~~ of
. .
in-situ surfactantbegin to negate incrementaloil
with temperature. The optimum temperaturefor
caustic steam flocding,accordingto his mcxiel,is
about 310°F, which agrees fairly well with our ex-
perimentalresult of 300°F.
Cl = initial concentrationof NaOH, nml/m3 I

-e ofl recove~. C2 = initid concentrationof NaCl, mol/m3

The recovery performancecurves for convmtional
team flooding and caustic steam flcoding are sbwn in
‘igures6 and 7, respectively. It can be clearly seen
Ci = concentrationof i, nd/m3
~ = con~entrationof surfactantin solution ~
equl~ibrim Wit.nthe ~~~’bed –mat---~
~ = specific heat capaci@ at constant pressure
. 14
 .

;
13580 C.U. OKOYE. C. KOU-.T0U. ‘IAB& A. RAYATDAvnlmI
Tiab, D., Okoye, C.U. and Oman, M.M.: “Caustic
c~ = ?ate of steam condensationper unit reservofi Steam Flooding”,Journal of PetxwleumTetiologY,
iolumeand time, lb/ft3-t (August,1982). ‘—
~w ❑ (Nat)mximum concatration in water, wt/vol
%= (Na+)maximum concentitiononmti, wt/wt Okoye, C.U. and T&b, D.: “EnhancedRecovery of Oil
.-- =.-.A .nnn+inn J/mQl rl-A+mml! ~PF Paner 11076~ p~-
Ea ‘ enenzy h3YY’ieI, LUL. Ue=vA =..-.., by Ai~ltie St=il sl-a,~ , u.- .-r.-
f~ . st-— quality sented at the 1982 SPE Annual Technical Conference
fw . fractionflow of water and Ekhibitbn, New Orleans, Louisiana,September
F= dimensionlessparameterrelated to ratio of 26-29, 1983.
latent heat to total heat tijected
HAo)o = initial concmtration of ~, mol/m3 Breit, V.S., Mayer, E.H. andca.rmi-e, J.D.: “An
K~ = adsorptionrate constant Easily Applied Black-Oil.Model of Caustic Water-
K~ = desorptionrate constant flcdng”, SPE Paper 7999, Presented+atthe SPE
KA’ dissociationconstant of FL% mol/m3 49th Annual CaliforniaRegional Meeting, Ventura,
adsorptionrate constant April 18-20, 1979.
$$ ~ the ratio of adsorptionrate constantto the
desorptionrate constant deZabala,C.F., Vislocky,J.J., Rubfi? E., and
distributionratio of HA, dimensionless 11A~~~ Theory for ~= ‘ti’
~: : desorptionrate constant Fdke, C.J.: ...-.— l-_.~.,e&w~
JoI&q&
Flcoding”,Society of Petroleum=%
K= E!oltzanann constant,J/K (April, 198~~5-258.
Kh = thermal conductive@
KPi . relativepermeabilityof phase i, dimension- Itamalaishnan,T.S., Wasan, D.T.: “AMcdel for
less InterracialActivity of Acidic Crude Oil: Caustic
KS equilibriumconstant,nml/m3
❑
Systems for Alkaline Flooding”,Society of Petro-
~. characteristiclength of steam zone, ft leum EngineersJournal (August,~pp. 602-612
sf(T) = dimensionlesssteam front length
n. expment k water relative permeabilityrele
Yortsos, Y.C. and Gavalas, G.R.: “AnalyticA Model
tion, dimensionless ing of Oil Recovery by Steam Injection:Pm I -
Nst = Stefan number, dimensionless Upper l?cmnds”,Society~Petrolem Engineers
p. exponent in oil relative penneabili~ rela- Journal (April,~pP.~
tion, dimensionless
POc ‘ the standardchemical potential,J/mol Yortsos, Y.C. and Gavalas, G.R.: “Analytid Model
~. critical dimensionlesstime ing of Oil Recovery by Sta Injection:Part 2 -
~. characteristictime, dimensionless Asymptoticand ApproximateSolutions”,Sceie
T= temperature,OF Petroleum~ +< .
Journal (April, 1981
TD. dimensionlesstempera-
Ui . volumetricvelocity per unit reservoir cros: Marx, J.W, and Langenheti,R.H.: “ReservotiHeat:
section, fthr by Hot Fluid Injection”,Transaction, AIME (1959,
XD . dimensionlessdistance pp. 216, 312-315.
yD , dimensionlessdistance
Mard, G. and Volek, C.W.: ‘Heat and !%SS Tl?anSpOl
>scripts: in Steam-DriveProcesses”,Scciety ——
of Petroleum
Eng~-S Journal (March, l-p. 59-79.
c. Ckanical
D= refers to dimensionlessquantity Burie, R.W.: “TemperatureDistributionAhead of =
f. rock formation Advancing Steam Zone”, Journal _—
of Canadian Techno-
i= initial ~ (January--h, 19-. 30-3b.
n= ncmnal to a surface
o= oil tt~e ~sPfi of Heat in an Oil
. huweier, H.A.:
s. Steam Myer Caused by the Injectionof Hot Fluid”,
ob = overburden A lied ScientificResearch, Section A, Volume 5
ub ❑ undertiden *P.145. —

Siefert,W.K. and Howells, W.G.: “I?t~facial>y

Active Acids in a CaliforniaCrude Od: Isolat~on
Bursell, C.G. and Pit-, G.M.: “Performanceof of CarboxylicAcids and Phenols”,Analytid >W
Steam Displacementin the Kern River Field”, istry (April, 1969), pp. 41, 554-5G2.
Journal of PetroleumTechnology (August,1975), pr
997-1OOUT 11ASmdy of @ustic Solution-
Jennings,H.Y., Jr.:
~.a.
Q Uu= nil
VA.,. Tn+pvf.aC~
- . ---- —-—--— Tensionstt, sock~ ._— Of Pe~-
Okoye, CoU.: MM ~rimental Investigationof leum En@neers Journal (June, 197- 197-202;
Tertiary Recovery of Oil.by Alkaline Steam Flood- ll?ansactlons, AIME, p. 259.
Lr!utt
= .
, Ph.D. Dissertation,Universityof OklahUM,
1982. 7 Yen, T.F., Chim,M. and Jang, L.K.: “Scme Appi~a-
tions Derived Fran Petroleum @nponent pm~les
Copallda?isti, P., E?oresis,S.A. and Cambamous for ImprovedWaterflmding Studies”,Proceedingsc
M .: “An ETIIUIICed Oil Revoery Methcd: Injectionof Heavy Oil/tic& Oil Recovery constractor~ti
Steam with SurfactantSolutions”,Report of Group presentations(1980),PP. 413-426”
d’etude IFPIMF sur les Milieux Poreux Toulouse,
France (1977). 8. SedimentologYResearch Group: “The ~fects of In-
Situ steam Injectionon Cold Lake Od Sands”,
Eulletin of Canadian PetroleumGeolo vol. 29,
NO. 4 (De7*r, +
1981)> PP. 447-48.
 .

A CHEMICAL DISPLACEMENTMODEL FOR Al LINE STEAMFLOODINGIN LINEAR SYSTEMS SPE 1358C

1. Johnson, C.E., Jr.: tfs&actat slugs in wa@r-

flooding:How Much? What Concentraticm?”,Oil and
Gas Journal (September26, 1960), Vol. 58,~.~,
~ ~.

). Ziegler,V.M. and Handy, L.L.: “Effect of Tempera-

ture on SurfactantAdsorption in Porous Media”,
.- %-:---..—— T-,--.1 (A “
%Cle~ Of WtZ-d~-ti! LJIJ+IICCL.D Uuu-i= .r@V-1, 1982
--=8 .

L. Larson, R.G. and Hirasa.ki,

G.: “Analysisofphysict
Mechanisms in SurfactantFlocding”,Society of
PetroleunEngineersJournal (Decembe~)~PP.
42-58.

2. Claridge,E.L. ad Bondor, P.L.: “A Graphical

Method for CalculatingLinear Displacementwith Ma:
Transfer and ContinuouslyChangingFbbilities”,
Society of PetroleumEngineersJournal (December,
~p~ ~09-618.

3. Poston, S.W., Israel, S.C., Hossain, A.S., Montgan-

ery, E.F., Ramey, H.J., Jr.: “The Effect of Temper-
ature on IrreducibleWater Saturationand Relative
Permeabilityof UnconsolidatedSands”, Socie
Petrolem EngineersJournal (June, 1979+G.

4. Sinnokort,A.A.: “The Effect of Temperatureon

CapillaryPressure Curves of Limestoneand Sand-
stones”, Ph.D. Dissertation,StanfordUniversity,
Califcr’nia,August, 1979.

5. Farouq Ali, S.M.: “Steam InjectionTheories:A

unifi~ Approach”, SPE Paper 10746, presented at
the 1982 CaliforniaRegionalMeet- of the SPE,
San Francisco,California,Mamh 24-26, 1982.
 $s0

300

,,( ///J+/ /[//////

2s0
0

T
200

Slwu.t m=
( -me
w. ----
F

— ———— +
.—— .—— —
x 150
Y=
2 b
t
100

,
St 1 1.4 1.H
0.2 0.6
1.6 ,?
x-o 777 0 0.4 O.e

x F1
1.2

Ftg. 2-Pmfi16m of wm~rature dktributkon ahead 01 rrdvanoing 6te6m zone.

H@ 1-Sohematlc diagram showing the ste6m and hot liquid zones in relation to
system geomstv.

.-
1

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6
fw
f“
0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0.5 0.7 O.q
0.1 0.3

%4 %
aemtboding at dlfiamnt temWmtum6.
Fb. 4-FtsoOOd I&W CUIWS tor alkaline
F@. 3-Fr60tii61 now CUWRSfor conventional steamtlcdhw at ditlwent tsmpwatums.

SPE 13580
 .

0.9

0.8

0.7
I

i;
// ‘“w ,’,1
If
‘ ;“

1[:4
If I 0..3
0.6 //
//
/,’11
1,1/
o 0.25
0.s ///t/;
fw II l;[l R
II
0.4
I’/ /’111
II
(pv)
0.2

Ill 0.15

//!“;
/ “ //’/ /
0.3
II

0.2
// 0.1
Ill
0.1 /’
;1
,,1
1/1/
/,, ,1
/
://
,/
I
\ 0.55

o
~
,
0 0.5 I.rl 2.5 3.s 4,s
.-.
n.> 0.4 0.6 0.5

0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9

w 1 (pv)

Fig. 6-O! r-ry vs. wnventional steam pore volume injeoted at different temperatures,
F@. 6-Superposed fractional flow curves for conventional steamfloodhg and alkaline
steamfioodhg.

~,?
‘T

-—. -——---- -
3.Q *’: \__ ::-.
O.G
:’, =.- -l~r,l
+.
0.8
-— —— —-—-.. ,,i \ = . *M.r-
-11
‘-.
_-— L*-”’—
—— ----— - pi\\\ \’ \ -1.,-4
i-, -
0.5 0,7 \\\. \--.!: L -— -—-—-— —--—
,,0 T -- 1– ,
\ .“-a+=__. — —--
- _.- ——— ——— —-—– .
0.6
L+==_+-—— --——
0.4 t ,-
,-1
—,- ——- -—
L! G.5 _\-- 8-----
~--..aa— -
L--—---
R
0.3
I L--

3.4

(pv)

0..!
0.2

0.2

0.’1
9.1

0 , 0.
0.1 0.3 0.5 0 ‘? 0.9
t
0.5 1.5 2.5 .!.5 4.5
0 0.2 O.a 0.6 O.u I
0 1 2 3 4 5
LO
u 1 (pv)

P@. 741 reoowy w F.2M wulume of alkalhw steam injeoted at dtirent tempwaturea Fig. 6-SaturaOon and clwmical profiles at different temperature of alkalineste6mflooding
(Pv - 0.26). (Pv -1 .0).

----
~PE 13>tl U
.

;\
\\,
1

0.9

0.8 .’\ II

i’‘-+E3k---
1
0.7 \ ———. -= “r
~\ ----
310 ,? --
‘\ \ .--— —.
-.. --
\\\ ----
0.6
\\ _77@ SF -- ‘
----
\\
N% --_-23~’r ----t
\ ----
s 0.5 . 1% or
.7-7
----—— -
u 154 T----

(3.4

0.3

H
L-+-++ + –-
~_~_&_ + --
--
0.2 +
L-+——

c!. !

4
o 0.? O.q
0.1 0.3 0.5
c1 0.2 (). A 0.6 0.8 1

LO

Fig. 9—Saturation and chemical profiles at different temperatures of alkaline steamflooding.

0.9

0.8
/ II
0.7

0.6

F 0.5

0.3
/
/
0.2
I
0.1 I

i.,, i:,._:, m

0 Ho. ? 0.9
0.1 - (3.3 * 0.5
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 I
0
-..
SW

Fig. 10-Graphical construction of the eolution of mcwlified Buckley-LevereR equation.