Sequential Injection of Carbonated Water: A Possible Process for Coupling CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery and Storage
Abdulrazag Y. Zekri1, Li Yang2, Gamal Alusta3, Mamdouh Ghannam4

1Abdulrazag Y. Zekri, Chemical & Petroleum Eng., UAE University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates.
2Li Yang, Sinopec Research Institute of PE., Chaoyang Beijing, China,P.O.
3Gamal Alusta*, Chemical & Petroleum Eng., UAE University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates.
4Mamdouh Ghannam, Chemical & Petroleum Eng., UAE University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates.

Manuscript received on August 01, 2020. | Revised Manuscript received on August 05, 2020. | Manuscript published on September 30, 2020. | PP: 368-376 | Volume-9 Issue-3, September 2020. | Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijrte.C4450099320 | DOI: 10.35940/ijrte.C4450.099320
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: Low salinity and carbonated water flooding have been investigated as possible techniques of improved/enhanced oil recovery. Carbonated water injection consists of dissolving carbon dioxide CO2 in water prior to injection and could be considered as a way to store greenhouse gas safely. Low salinity water flooding is a process of diluting high salinity injection water to a very low level of salinity. In this project, the effect of combining the two techniques in a sequential flooding was studied. The primary aim of this study is to optimize the oil recovery and evaluate CO2 storage during this process, employing low permeability carbonate cores and different sequential carbonated and non-carbonated brines flooding. Formation brine, seawater, low salinity carbonated and non-carbonated were used in this work. Core samples grouped as composite cores with similar over all reservoir permeability. Different sequences of brines were employed to determine the optimum system. The experiment’s result showed that carbonated water performs better than the noncarbonated brines. A new technique for estimate CO2 retention based on the displacement efficiency of the carbonated water flooding system is presented. The interfacial tension, contact angle measurements results indicated that wettability is the dominant mechanism of the studied systems. A sequential composite core flooding consists of carbonated low salinity followed by low salinity and seawater injection (CLSW- LSW-SW) is the optimum flooding system among the studied systems. Technically, CLSW flooding displayed an excellent incremental displacement efficiency ΔDE of 21.4% and CSW exhibited the best CO2 retention per incremental ΔNp. 
Keywords: CO2 storage, Sequential Flooding, Carbonated Water, CO2-EOR, Low Salinity, Low Permeability.