Effects of Surface Acidity and Polarity of SiO₂ Nanoparticles on the Foam Stabilization Applied to Natural Gas Flooding in Tight Gas-Condensate Reservoirs

Abstract

Foams in the oil and gas industry have been used as divergent fluids to attenuate the fluid channeling in high-permeability zones. Commonly, foams are generated using a surfactant solution in high-permeability reservoirs, which exhibit stability problems. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to stabilize the foams by the addition of modified silica nanoparticles, varying the surface acidity and polarity for natural gas flooding in tight gas-condensated reservoirs. Four types of modified silica-based nanoparticles with varying surface acidity and polarity (coated with vacuum residue) were synthesized and evaluated using surfactant adsorption. The basic nanoparticles exhibited a greater adsorption capacity of the surfactant, reaching an adsorbed amount of approximately 200 mg of surfactant per gram of nanoparticles, and Type I adsorption behavior. Foams were generated and evaluated based on their stability using two routes, namely, (1) with mechanical agitation and (2) methane flooding, to determine the optimal concentration of nanoparticles to be used. In both scenarios, foam height was monitored against time, and the half-life of the foam was established. The nanofluid prepared using a surfactant solution and 500 mg/L of basic nanoparticles reached a half-life 41% greater than that of the fluid that does not contain nanoparticles. In addition, a core flooding test was performed to evaluate the generation and perdurability of the foam (with and without nanoparticles) by methane flooding and the mobility reduction at typical reservoir conditions (confinement and pore pressure of 5200 and 1200 psi, respectively, and temperature of 100 °C). The porous medium was obtained from a tight gas-condensate reservoir, and it has an absolute permeability of 65.1 mD and a porosity of 7%. The oil recovery with methane injection was about 52%; with foam injection, an additional 10% was obtained, and an 18% additional recovery was reached with the injection of foam and nanoparticles.

Effect of the nanoparticles in the stability of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide/resorcinol/formaldehyde gel systems for water shut‐off/conformance control applications

“…The produced fluids were collected and the oil recovery was reported during the experiments. In addition, the system conductivity (mL·min −1 ·psi −1 ) in the presence and absence of nanoparticles was estimated as: …”

Nanotechnology Applied to Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes: A Review

“…Recent studies show that NPs are able to improve the foam stability at severe reservoir conditions and subsequently oil recovery is improved. Inorganic oxide nanoparticles such as silica [176][177][178][179][180][181][182], Al 2 O 3 [183][184][185], carbonate [186], TiO 2 [182], CuO [182], and fly ash nanoparticles [187,188] have been evaluated in foam stabilization. In particular, Figure 20a shows the oil recovery through waterflooding before (Step 1) and after (Step 2) the injection of surfactant (PSCI) in the absence (PSC1) and presence (PSC1 + SiO 2 ) of SiO 2 nanoparticles [177].…”

“…(a) Oil recovery through waterflooding before (Step 1) and after (Step 2) the injection of surfactant (PSCI) in the absence (PSC1) and presence (PSC1 + SiO2) of SiO2 nanoparticles. Reprinted with permission [176]; Copyright 2018, ACS publications. (b) Oil recovery through waterflooding before (Step 1) and after (Step 2) the injection of gel in the absence (GEL) and presence (GEL + Al2O3) of Al2O3 nanoparticles.…”

Upgrading of Extra-Heavy Crude Oils by Dispersed Injection of NiO–PdO/CeO2±δ Nanocatalyst-Based Nanofluids in the Steam

“…The mixtures were left under magnetic stirring at 300 rpm for 24 h until the system reached the adsorption equilibrium [33]. The nanoparticles with resin II and/or n-C 7 asphaltene molecules adsorbed were separated by centrifugation at 4500 rpm for 45 min and the precipitate was analyzed using a Q50 thermogravimetric analyzer (TA Instruments Inc., New Castel, DE, USA) and corroborated through UV-vis measurements [34,35]. For the best system in terms of the adsorption and catalysis of the heavy oil fractions, adsorption isotherms for a solution model were constructed for the different resin to asphaltene ratios (R:A) of 8:2, 1:1, and 2:8.…”