Mechanistic study of enhanced oil recovery by gas, WAG and SWAG injections in mixed-wet rocks: Effect of gas/oil IFT

<p>Janus nanoparticles have applications in many fields. Particularly, the oil industry is interested in applying them for enhanced oil recovery. Within this context, there is a need to understand the influence of the factors involved in the formulation of crude oil type emulsions over their properties and rheological behavior. In this contribution, spherical SiO<sub>2</sub> Janus nanoparticles of two different sizes were synthesized and used as surfactants for the formulation of aqueous emulsions with two model oils: namely, squalane and vacuum gas oil. Factorial experiments were designed and made to analyze the effects of the particle size of the Janus nanoparticles, the water content, the emulsification energy, and of the second and third order interactions between these variables over the droplet size distributions, polydispersity, and rheological profiles of the emulsions. On the one hand, it was found that the used Janus nanoparticles produced either water in oil (for vacuum gas oil) or oil in water (for squalane) depending on the chemistry of the oil phase. On the other hand, it was demonstrated that non-additive factors play an important role over the properties of the emulsions; especially in the case of the water in oil ones. These effects also implied non-additive correlations between the droplet size distributions of the emulsions and their rheological behavior. Therefore, this work demonstrates that simpler linear relationships do not suffice for finding the best conditions for formulating crude oil type emulsions aimed for applications such as enhanced oil recovery.</p>

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Mechanistic study of nanoparticles-assisted xanthan gum polymer flooding for enhanced oil recovery: a comparative study

Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology ◽

10.1007/s13202-021-01334-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Afeez Gbadamosi ◽

Adeyinka Yusuff ◽

Augustine Agi ◽

Prem Muruga ◽

Radzuan Junin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽

Oil Recovery ◽

Shear Viscosity ◽

Xanthan Gum ◽

Silicon Oxide ◽

Polymer Concentration ◽

Rheological Behaviour ◽

Water Flooding ◽

Mechanistic Study ◽

Oil Displacement

AbstractRecently, nanoparticle additives have been used to improve stability and hence efficiency of chemicals during enhanced oil recovery. Herein, a comparative analysis of the application of nanoparticle-stabilized xanthan gum for oil recovery applications was investigated. The nanoparticles used as additives are silicon oxide (SiO2), metallic aluminium oxide (Al2O3), and titanium oxide (TiO2). Rheological measurements were carried out to examine the shear viscosity of the polymeric nanofluids under a range of salinity typical of reservoir conditions. Interfacial tension (IFT) experiment was conducted using Kruss tensiometer. Oil displacement studies were carried out to examine the incremental recovery factor of the polymeric nanofluids. The polymeric nanofluids exhibited better rheological behaviour compared to bare xanthan gum (XG) polymer. At 0.5 wt.% nanoparticle concentration, 0.5 wt.% polymer concentration, shearing rate of 10 s−1, and 3 wt.% NaCl concentration, rheology result shows that the shear viscosity of SiO2-XG, Al2O3-XG, and TiO2-XG is 423 mPa.s, 299 mPa.s, and 293 mPa.s, respectively. Moreover, the polymeric nanofluids lowered the IFT of the oil/brine interface due to adsorption at the nanoparticles at the interface. Finally, oil displacement result confirms that the incremental oil recovery after water flooding by Al2O3-XG, TiO2-XG, and SiO2-XG is 28.4%, 27.6%, and 25.2%, respectively.

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