Low Salinity Water Flooding Overview

Principles

Definition

Low salinity water flooding is a research concept and enhanced oil recovery strategy centered on injecting water with reduced ionic strength into hydrocarbon reservoirs. This field investigates the complex rock-fluid interactions, such as wettability alteration and interfacial tension modification, that potentially lead to improved oil displacement compared to conventional methods, with ongoing research focused on mechanistic understanding and optimizing performance under various reservoir conditions, including heterogeneity and initial fluid saturations, often utilizing experimental methods and reservoir simulation.

Ontological type

Mechanistic Processes

Reservoir Conditions

Injection Design

Key developments

Key Figures

Wettability Paradigm Emergence era

Clayton J. Radke[1] operated across the University of California, Berkeley[3] and Université de Poitiers[4] during the Wettability Paradigm Emergence era. His key contributions in this era are exemplified by the 1993 pore-level scenario paper on mixed wettability[6], which linked crude exposure, brine composition, and thin-film dynamics as drivers of wettability change, underpinning later low-salinity flooding concepts. Anthony R. Kovscek[2] is associated with Stanford University[5] and University of California, Berkeley[3] during this era, and his contributions to the pore-level scenario paper on mixed wettability[6] helped articulate pore-scale mechanisms that informed wettability-based oil recovery strategies. This work, framed by these institutional contexts, defined wettability alteration as the organizing principle for low-salinity flooding in the 1990s, guiding laboratory studies, chemical engineering approaches, and field-preconditioning strategies that followed[6].

Chemical EOR Scale-Up era

A. Revil [1] is a researcher whose work in this era spanned affiliations with Albert Einstein College of Medicine [3] and Cornell University [4]. A. Revil [1] helped develop the theory of streaming potential and the zeta potential in porous media [7], providing a fundamental electrokinetic framework that informs wettability and transport-driven strategies in low-salinity chemical EOR. Norman R. Morrow [2] is associated with University of Tasmania [5] and University of Wyoming [6] during this era. Norman R. Morrow [2] contributed key insights from Interrelationship of Wettability, Initial Water Saturation, Aging Time, and Oil Recovery by Spontaneous Imbibition and Waterflooding [8], elucidating how wettability, initial water saturation, and aging influence oil recovery and thereby guiding low-salinity and wettability-altering flood designs across carbonate and sandstone settings.

Smart Water Electrochemistry era

Hassan Mahani [1] is active with Ghent University [3] and Imperial College London [4] during the Smart Water Electrochemistry era. His work, including Insights into the Mechanism of Wettability Alteration by Low-Salinity Flooding (LSF) in Carbonates [7], Kinetics of Low-Salinity-Flooding Effect [8], and Insights into the Impact of Temperature on the Wettability Alteration by Low Salinity in Carbonate Rocks [9], advances understanding of how brine composition and temperature modulate interfacial processes in carbonate rocks, laying groundwork for predicting LSF performance. Ramez A. Nasralla [2] is associated with Texas A&M University [5] and Cairo University [6] during this era. Nasralla's key contributions include the proposition that Double-Layer Expansion may be a primary mechanism for enhanced oil recovery by low-salinity flooding [10], the insights into temperature's impact on wettability alteration in carbonate rocks [9], and the wettability mechanism itself in carbonates [7].