Spectrophotometric Determination of Ca2+ and Ca-Complex Formation Constants: Application to Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery.

Chemicals such as anionic surfactants and polymers often contain groups that complex divalent ions such as Ca2+. The formation of divalent ion complexes can decrease emulsifying or viscosifying power and lead to adsorption or precipitation. This is particularly relevant in chemical enhanced oil recovery, where high viscosities and low interfacial tensions are required for mobility control and the formation of oil-water microemulsions, respectively. In this work, we use a Ca2+-sensitive dye to determine the Ca2+ concentration and Ca-complex formation constants in solutions containing complexing agents. This method can be used to rapidly screen the affinity of different chemicals to form Ca-complexes in low-salinity solutions. The complex formation constants can be implemented into chemical flooding simulators to investigate the interplay with mineral dissolution and cation exchange and model adsorption processes.