The investigation of the efficiency of oil displacing from the pore in the rock formation depending on the width and height of the pore using nanosuspension as a displacing agent
Abstract The numerical investigation of the two-phase fluid flow in a microchannel was carried out. The effect of the pore width and height on the oil displacing efficiency by nanofluids for various Reynolds numbers was studied. The computational domain was a T-shaped microchannel with a horizontal main flow channel and a vertical channel that imitated the pore in the rock formation, called a pore channel. The main channel width and height were 200 µm, and the pore channel width and height were varied in the range from 100 µm to 800 µm. The Reynolds number was varied from 0.1 to 100. The main studied characteristic was the oil recovery coefficient, defined as the ratio of the volume of oil remaining in the pore to the volume of the pore. That characteristic, obtained for a case, when the nanofluid was used as a displacing agent, was compared to the similar one obtained for a case, when pure water was used as a displacing agent. A single-phase fluid with properties, determined experimentally, was considered the nanofluid. The mass concentrations of SiO2 nanoparticles were 0.25% and 0.5%. The average diameter of nanoparticles was equal to 5 nm. It was found, that the oil recovery coefficient increased with an increase in width of the pore channel and a decrease in its height. It was obtained that the nanofluid can enhance the oil recovery in several times as compared to pure water. It was also found that the main factor affecting the efficiency of oil recovery is the contact angle of wetting.
