Experimental Study of the Simultaneous Effect of Ion-tuned Water and Clay Particles on the Behavior of Water-in-Oil Emulsion; New Insight into Asphaltene Molecular Structure

Experimental Study of the Simultaneous Effect of Ion-tuned Water and Clay Particles on the Behavior of Water-in-Oil Emulsion; New Insight into Asphaltene Molecular Structure | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Experimental Study of the Simultaneous Effect of Ion-tuned Water and Clay Particles on the Behavior of Water-in-Oil Emulsion; New Insight into Asphaltene Molecular Structure Mina Sadat Mahdavi, Amir Hossein Saeedi Dehaghani This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5073626/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Jan, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Enhancing oil recovery in sandstone reservoirs, particularly through smart water flooding, is an appealing area of research that has been thoroughly documented. However, few studies have examined the formation of water-in-heavy oil emulsion because of the incompatibility between the injected water-folded ions, clay particles, and heavy fraction in the oil phase. In this study, we investigated the synergistic roles of asphaltene and clay in the smart water flooding process using a novel experimental approach. Our results provide new insights into how the behavior and properties of water in heavy oil emulsions are affected by changes in ion-tuned water in clay-rich sandstone reservoirs. To investigate this, heavy oil was combined with aqueous phases (in the absence and presence of clay) for 20 days at 80°C. Then, the emulsion phases were centrifuged to separate the oil and brine phases (aged oil and brine). The separated oil phases were analyzed using Interfacial Tension (IFT), oil viscosity measurements, and asphaltene onset point precipitation (AOP) experiments. We observed significant decreases in viscosity and AOP when crude oil was exposed to the aqueous phases containing brine and clay, which was also reflected in the IP-143 results. Additionally, ATR (Attenuated Total Reflection) results and elemental analysis obtained from asphaltenes extracted from the aged oil phase, along with zeta potential measurements of the aged oils, indicated a reduction in the concentration of aliphatic groups as well as in the polar and negative components of the asphaltene molecular structure from the oil phases. Furthermore, the analysis of the simultaneous effects of ion-tuned water and clay on emulsion properties revealed differing impacts on the stability of the emulsion phase. These variations were attributed to the contribution of polar asphaltene components at the interface. These findings could potentially reduce undesirable emulsion damage during heavy oil recovery with ion-tuned water flooding in clay-rich reservoirs. Physical sciences/Engineering/Energy infrastructure Physical sciences/Engineering/Chemical engineering Emulsion Asphaltene Ion-tuned water Heavy oil Zeta potential Clay Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Jan, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 18 Nov, 2024 Reviews received at journal 15 Nov, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 05 Nov, 2024 Reviews received at journal 09 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Sep, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 27 Sep, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 27 Sep, 2024 Editor invited by journal 25 Sep, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 23 Sep, 2024 First submitted to journal 11 Sep, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5073626","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":379274886,"identity":"108b1a24-f6eb-42bf-82ef-9a0accb4d81c","order_by":0,"name":"Mina Sadat Mahdavi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tarbiat Modares University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mina","middleName":"Sadat","lastName":"Mahdavi","suffix":""},{"id":379274887,"identity":"e319ace5-2896-4fde-9e85-2421a38cc6b2","order_by":1,"name":"Amir Hossein Saeedi Dehaghani","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA4klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNACNgk5IGkA5x8gRosxyVoYEhuQteAF/P2HHz74UGaRvra9eePnioo6Bv72A4yHK/BokbiRZmw445xE7rYzx4olz5w5zCBxJoHh4Bl81txgMJPmbQNquZFjINnYdgAkwnCwAY8O+fPHv//+2yaRbnYjx/hn4786BnlCWgwO5JgxM7ZJJAC1mEk2NjAzGBDSYngjp1iy55yEIdAvZZYNxw7zGJ5JbMCrRe788Y0ffpTVyZsdb958s6GmTk7u+OHDH/FpwQA8DAyMJGkYBaNgFIyCUYAFAABzdFJ6PbKJbwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Tarbiat Modares University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Amir","middleName":"Hossein Saeedi","lastName":"Dehaghani","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-09-11 22:24:00","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5073626/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5073626/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-87821-y","type":"published","date":"2025-01-27T15:57:13+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":75351489,"identity":"065b58ca-f84e-46de-9d57-8a90110c983c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-03 16:12:01","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1530410,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5073626/v1_covered_6a3e5102-4355-49ad-9517-e6760cdc9a14.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Experimental Study of the Simultaneous Effect of Ion-tuned Water and Clay Particles on the Behavior of Water-in-Oil Emulsion; New Insight into Asphaltene Molecular Structure","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Emulsion, Asphaltene, Ion-tuned water, Heavy oil, Zeta potential, Clay","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5073626/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5073626/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eEnhancing oil recovery in sandstone reservoirs, particularly through smart water flooding, is an appealing area of research that has been thoroughly documented. 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