Ion and Surfactant Induced Wetting Transition Ion and Surfactant Induced Wetting Transition

The ever-increasing demand for energy in our society calls for more efficient andsustainable recovery of fossil fuels. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) deals with im-proving the recovery of oil from reservoirs. It encompasses not only the large-scaleengineering enterprise, but also the fundamental understanding and discovery ofthe relevant physicochemical processes. The motivation for this thesis stems fromthis fundamental interest in EOR, more particularly from a specific method of EORknown as low salinity waterflooding. Conventional waterflooding involves flood-ing the oil reservoir with water (off-shore reservoirs with locally available brine)for improved oil recovery and in recent years, the influence of the composition ofthis injected aqueous phase on the incremental output of oil has drawn attention.Wettability of the reservoir-rock is a significant property influenced by low salinitywaterflooding and is believed to determine the success of the production. Variousprocesses governing the wettability for this specific example have been investigatedand discussed over decades, albeit without universal agreement. This is becauseof the complex interplay of ions, polar components, rock or mineral surface con-stitution over multiple lengh-scales. We are interested in this specific parameter,wettability, in this thesis from an ion adsorption and interaction perspective. Inthis chapter, the broad motivation of the work is first introduced, and subsequently,the fundamental questions to be addressed are discussed. 2