Effect of Nanoparticles with Different Chemical Nature on the Stability and Rheology of Acrylamide Sodium Acrylate Copolymer/Chromium (III) Acetate Gel for Conformance Control Operations

Abstract

During enhanced oil recovery (EOR), reservoir heterogeneities and fluids distributions promote preferential flow channels formation. Therefore, different types of gels have been proposed to improve swept efficiency on chemical flooding by plugging high permeability zones. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the effect that nanotechnology has on the inhibition of syneresis and the rheological properties of the Acrylamide Sodium Acrylate Copolymer/Chromium (III) Acetate gel system for conformance applications in mature reservoirs. Thus, a methodology is proposed in four stages: First, (I) nanoparticles synthesis, and characterization, followed by (II) bottle tests to monitor gelation kinetics and syneresis degree at 70 °C, then (III) description of the rheological evaluation on static and dynamic conditions to calculate gelation time and viscoelastic modulus (G’ and G”), and finally (IV) the displacement test with the best gel system in the presence of nanoparticles. Results showed that the best nanoparticle was the chromium oxide (Cr2O3), which represented the lesser syneresis degree and increased gelation time. Syneresis of gel samples in the presence of Cr2O3 at day 30 was under 1% for gels prepared with 4000, 6000, and 8000 mg·L−1 of polymer, and polymer to crosslinker ratio (p/c) of 40:1. Regarding SiO2, MgO, and Al2O3 nanoparticles, results show an improvement of gel strength. However, their thermal stability in terms of syneresis was lower. Displacement test in a triple parallel Slim Tube was able to recover an additional 37% of oil of the total oil present in the sandpacks, confirming the effectivity of the system when 100 mg·L−1 of Cr2O3 nanoparticles are included.

Development of Nanofluids for the Inhibition of Formation Damage Caused by Fines Migration: Effect of the Interaction of Quaternary Amine (CTAB) and MgO Nanoparticles

“…In this case, the intensity of the band at 370 cm −1 , is similar in the analyzed samples due to the presence of the Mg-O functional group. The results are similar to those reported in the scientific literature [53,[55][56][57].…”

Synthesis, Characterization, and Assessment of a CeO2@Nanoclay Nanocomposite for Enhanced Oil Recovery

“…They concluded that the biopolymer content did not help nanoparticles to reduce the IFT. In addition, a homogenous dispersion of the nanoparticles in the solution and a reduction in the polymer adsorption was observed that can explain the enhancement in the sweep eciency and oil recovery [ 53 ].…”

Surface Degradation Mechanism on CH3NH3PbBr3 Hybrid Perovskite Single Crystal by a Grazing E-Beam Irradiation

“…However, there are attempts to overcome the critical problems such as material instability and environmental issues caused by Pb-based perovskite, due to which the research on OHP materials is still focused on the solar cell application [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. In the case of materials instability, particularly, the degradation of OHP materials under electron beam, UV (ultra-violet), and visible light illumination conditions has been reported [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. C. Xiao, et al had reported the two-steps degradation mechanism such as (1) defect formation caused by irradiation damage and (2) phase transformation induced by electron-beam heating with a high-energy electron beam (5 and 10 kV) [ 7 ].…”