Mahmoud Elsarafi, Adanna Okoye, Chiedz Tokonyai and Jomarie Leblanc
Midwestern State University
Contact angles between fluids are important in capillary tube measurements in oil industry. Contact angle measurements are important to determine both surface and interfacial tension between solids and various fluids. In the oil industry, it is very important to have a water-wet condition on the rock face in order to extract oil. If the rock wettability is oil wet, the oil company will need to make the right decision to improve oil recovery by injection of CO2 (Carbon Dioxide), surfactant, and/or mixed alkaline and surfactant to change the rock wettability. Interfacial or surface tension exists when two phases are present. These phases can be gas/oil, oil/water, or gas/water. The aim of this project is to determine the contact angle of different fluids when they interact with each other and the solid surface. This work was focused on the determination of the wettability (water wet or oil wet), and analyzed the effect of different brine concentrations on wettability and contact angle measurements using the Dynamic Contact Angle Analyzer (DCA 315). In this work results, fluid with the lowest contact angle produces the most favorable conditions for oil extraction. In addition, the surfactant is desirable as it maintains a high surface tension even when mixed with different brine concentrations.