Wettability of NAPL-Contaminated Sands
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 122, Issue 10
Abstract
The potential for changes in the wettability of a subsurface system following exposure of sands to a variety of non–aqueous-phase liquids (NAPLs) was assessed. Many of the NAPLs were collected from field sites with on-going NAPL recovery systems. Three methods were used to evaluate the wetting conditions: contact angle measurements, a qualitative bottle test, and capillary pressure-saturation curves. The results clearly show that a wide range of wetting conditions can be expected following spills of complex NAPL mixtures to the subsurface. NAPLs comprised of higher molecular weight constituents—such as creosote—or with added surfactants—such as gasoline—had a greater impact on the system wettability than the lower molecular weight NAPLs. Neat solvents did not have a significant impact on the wettability of quartz surfaces. Many of the petroleum products tested resulted in the formation of weakly water-wet surfaces. Under these conditions, the potential recovery of NAPL from the subsurface would be maximized. Much lower recoveries would be expected for the NAPL-wetting creosote and coal tar contaminants, however.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Abriola, L. M., Rathfelder, K., Maiza, M., and Yadav, S. (1992). “VALOR code version 1.0: a PC code for simulating immiscible contaminant transport in subsurface systems.”Rep. # TR-101018, EPRI, Palo Alto, Calif.
2.
Adamson, A. W. (1982). Physical chemistry of surfaces, 4th ed., John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y.
3.
Anderson, W. G.(1986). “Wettability literature survey—part 2: wettability measurements.”J. Petr. Technol., 38(11), 1246–1262.
4.
Anderson, W. G.(1987). “Wettability literature survey—part 6: the effects of wettability on water flooding.”J. Petr. Technol., 39(12), 1605–1622.
5.
Bradford, S. A., and Leij, F. J.(1995a). “Wettability effects on scaling twoand three-fluid capillary pressure-saturation relations.”Envir. Sci. Technol., 29(6), 1446–1455.
6.
Bradford, S. A., and Leij, F. J.(1995b). “Fractional wettability effects on twoand three-fluid capillary pressure-saturation relations.”J. Contamination Hydrol., 20(2), 89–109.
7.
Cherry, J. A., Feenstra, S., Kueper, B. H., and McWhorter, D. W. (1990). “Status of in situ technologies for cleanup of aquifers contaminated by DNAPLs below the water table.”Int. Specialty Conf. on How Clean is Clean? Cleanup Criteria for Contaminated Soil and Groundwater, Air and Waste Mgmt. Assoc., Washington, D.C.
8.
Crocker, M. E., and Marchin, L. M.(1988). “Wettability and adsorption characteristics of crude-oil asphaltenes and polar fractions.”J. Petr. Technol., 40(4), 470–474.
9.
Cuice, L. E. (1990). “Evaluation of reservoir wettability and its effect on oil recovery.”Interfacial phenomena in petroleum recovery, N. R. Morrow, ed., Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, N.Y.
10.
Demond, A. H., Desai, F. N., and Hayes, K. F.(1994). “Effect of cationic surfactants on organic liquid-water capillary pressure-saturation relationships.”Water Resour. Res., 30(2), 333–342.
11.
Denekas, M. O., Mattax, C. C., and Davis, G. T.(1959). “Effects of crude oil components on rock wettability.”Petr. Trans. AIME, 216, 330–333.
12.
Donaldson, E. C., Thomas, R. D., and Lorenz, P. B.(1969). “Wettability determination and its effect on recovery efficiency.”Soc. Petr. Engrs. J., 9, 13–20.
13.
Dorgarten, H. W., and Tsang C. F. (1992). “Three phase simulation of organic contaminations in aquifer systems.”Subsurface Contamination by Immiscible Fluids, K. U. Weyer, ed., Balkema, Rotterdam, 149–158.
14.
Dubey, S. T., and Doe, P. H.(1993). “Base number and wetting properties of crude oils.”SPE Res. Engrg., 8(3), 195–200.
15.
Dullien, F. A. L. (1979). Porous media, fluid transport and pore structure . Academic press, New York, N.Y.
16.
Gonzalez, G., and Middea, A.(1987). “Asphaltene adsorption by quartz and feldspar.”J. Disp. Sci. Technol., 8, 525–548.
17.
Good, R. J. (1979). “Contact angles and surface free energy of solids.”Surface and Collioid Sci., R. J. Good and R. R. Stromberg, eds., Plenum Press, New York, N.Y.
18.
Hirasaki, G. J.(1991). “Wettability: fundamentals and surface forces.”SPE Form. Eval., 69(2), 217–226.
19.
Jadhunandan, P. P., and Morrow, N. R.(1995). “Effect of wettability on waterflood recovery for crude-oil/brine/rock systems.”SPE Res. Engrg., 10(1), 40–46.
20.
Kaluarachchi, J. J., and Parker, J. C.(1992). “Multiphase flow with a simplified model for oil entrapment.”Transport in Porous Media, 7(1), 1–14.
21.
Kovscek, A. R., Wong, H., and Radke, C. J.(1993). “A pore-level scenario for the development of mixed wettability in oil reservoirs.”AICHE J., 39(6), 1072–1085.
22.
Luthy, R. G., Ramaswami, A., Ghoshal, S., and Merkel, W.(1993). “Interfacial films in coal tar nonaqueous phase liquid-water systems.”Envir. Sci. Technol., 27(13), 2914–2918.
23.
“Management of manufactured gas plant sites, volume I: wastes and chemicals of interest.” (1987). Rep. GRI-87/0260.1, Gas Res. Inst. Chicago, Ill.
24.
Morrow, N. R.(1975). “The effects of surface roughness on contact angle with special reference to petroleum recovery.”J. Can. Petr. Technol., 14(4), 42–53.
25.
Morrow, N. R.(1976). “Capillary pressure correlations for uniformly wetted porous media.”J. Can. Petr. Technol., 15(4), 49–69.
26.
Morrow, N. R., Lim, H. T., and Ward, J. S.(1986). “Effect of crude-oil-induced wettability changes on oil recovery.”SPE Form. Eval., 1(2), 89–103.
27.
Morrow, N. R.(1990). “Wettability and its effect on oil recovery.”J. Petr. Technol., 42(12), 1476–1484.
28.
Nelson, E. C., Ghoshal, S., Edwards, J. C., Marsh, G. X., and Luthy, R. L.(1996). “Chemical characterization of coal tar-water interfacial films.”Envir. Sci. Technol., 30(3), 1014–1023.
29.
Peters, C. A., and Luthy, R. G.(1993). “Coal tar dissolution in water-miscible solvents: experimental evaluations.”Envir. Sci. Technol., 27(13), 2831–2843.
30.
Powers, S. E., and Tamblin, M. E.(1995). “Wettability of porous media after exposure to synthetic gasolines.”J. Contam. Hydrol., 19, 105–125.
31.
Reisberg, J., and Doscher, T. M.(1956). “Interfacial phenomena in crude oil-water systems.”Producers Monthly, 21(1), 43–50.
32.
Salathiel, R. A.(1973). “Oil recovery by surface film drainage in mixed-wettability rocks.”J. Petr. Technol., 25, 1216–1224.
33.
Treiber, L. E., Archer, D. L., and Owens, W. W.(1972). “A laboratory evaluation of the wettability of fifty oil-producing reservoirs.”Soc. Petr. Engrs. J., 12, 531–539.
34.
Tupa, R. C., and Dorer, C. J. (1984). “Gasoline and diesel fuel additives for performance/distribution/quality.”Proc., Passenger Car Meeting, Fuels and Lubricants Technol., SAE Paper #841211, Detroit, Mich.
35.
Van Genuchten, M. T.(1980). “A closed form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils.”Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 44, 892–898.
36.
Villaume, J. F.(1985). “Investigations at sites contaminated with dense, non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs).”Ground Water Monitoring Rev., 10(2), 60–74.
37.
Wang, F. H. L., and Guidry, L. J. (1994). `Effect of oxidation-reduction conditions on wettability alterations.”SPE Form. Engrg., 9(2), 140–148.
38.
Yen, T. F.(1974). “Structure of petroleum asphaltene and its significance.”Energy Sources, 1(4), 447–463.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 122 • Issue 10 • October 1996
Pages: 889 - 896
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Oct 1, 1996
Published in print: Oct 1996
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.