Alkaline Flooding 10.1 INTRODUCTION The alkaline flooding method relies on a chemical reaction between chemicals such as sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide (most common alkali agents) and organic acids (saponifiable components) in crude oil to produce in situ surfactants (soaps) that can lower interfacial tension. Another very important mechanism is emulsification, which is discussed in Section 13.5. The addition of the alkali increases pH and lowers the surfactant adsorption so that very low surfactant concentrations can be used to reduce cost; this issue is discussed in Section 12.7. This chapter focuses on alkaline reactions with crude oil and rock. Another main focus of this chapter is the simulation of alkaline flooding, which is probably the most complex task in modeling chemical processes. This chapter also discusses a surveillance and monitoring program and the application condi- tions of alkaline flooding. 10.2 COMPARISON OF ALKALIS USED IN ALKALINE FLOODING This section compares different alkalis used in alkaline flooding and discussed their application advantages and disadvantages, 10.2.1 General Comparison and pH Alkaline flooding is also called caustic flooding. Alkalis used for in situ forma~ tion of surfactants include sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium ortho- silicate, sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium metaborate, ammonium hydroxide, and ammonium carbonate. In the past, the first two were used most often However, owing to the emulsion and scaling problems observed in Chinese field applications, the tendency now is not to use sodium hydroxide. The sociation of an alkali results in high pH. For example, NaOH dissociates to yield OH: NaOH + Na’ + OH. (0.1) Modern Chemical Hnhanced OM Recovery. BOK 10.10181897%1-856 ‘Copynaht © 2911 ty sever Ine All gts ot reproduction in ay fn es 389(390 ) CHAPTER | 10. Alkaline Flooding Sodium carbonate dissociates as NazCO, 2Na+CO¥, (10.2) followed by the hydrolysis reaction CO# +H20 > HCO; + OH (10.3) The dissociation of sodium silicate is complex and cannot be described by a single reaction equation. The pH values of several commonly used alkaline agents are presented in Figure 10.1. Of course, the pH of the solutions varies with salt content. For instance, the pH of caustic solutions decreases from 13.2 to 12.5 when the salinity increases from 0 to 1% NaCl. By comparison, the pH of sodium carbonate solutions is less dependent on salinity (Labrid, 1991). In 14.0 13.5 1 tas gE 8 ot 12.5 | 12.0 LI Panesar 115 8 | —=> 19 are Eee | C4 10.5 bh bee | 10.0 ct — TL 95 =| 9.0 PS | a" as er 8.0 0.01 ot 1 10FIGURE 101. Graph of pl values of alkaline solutions at different concentrations at 25°C: 1, sodium hydroxide (NaOlD}; 2, sodium orthesilcate (Na,Si0); 3, sodium metasilicate (water glass oF liguid glass, NasSiO); 4, sodiuan silicate pentahydrate (Na»SiO $110}; 5, sediam phosphate (NasPOw1211.0); 6, sou silicate [CV0V(SiOs} = 2, where n i the Weight ratio of SIO, 10 NaO4;: 7, sodium silicate [(Ns,0)(Si0,)q.1= 2.4] 8, Soium earhonate (NasCO): 9, sodium sit cate [(Na,0(S'0,), n= 3.22: 10, sodium pyrophosphate (Na,P,0,); 11, sodium tripolyphosphate (NosP,0,) and 12, som bicsrhonate (NaHCO3),