Evaluation of Silicon Carbide Nanoparticles as an Additive to Minimize Surfactant Loss during Chemical Flooding

Abstract

Surfactant flooding is a prolific enhanced oil recovery technique. It alters the rock fluid interfacial interactions between reservoir fluids and rocks. However, a pair of impeding factors often limit the economic viability of the process and need to be optimized. The first is the surfactant loss on the adsorbent surface due to adsorption making it a potential environmental problem. The second is the Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) which governs the amount of surfactant pumped. This study aimed to minimize the surfactant loss and the CMC, thereby optimizing the flooding efficiency and reducing the environmental concerns for nanoparticle applications. To achieve this, Silicon Carbide nanoparticles (SCN) were employed as additives to the surfactant solution. It was observed that the use of SCN reduces the surfactant adsorption by as much as 44 % and the critical micelle concentration by 14 %. The studies also observed that the concentration of SCN required to get these results is dramatically (more than 25 times) lower than previously reported literature on other nanoparticles. To adsorption isotherm studies provide an insight into the type of adsorption taking place. The adsorption isotherm follows the Langmuir model.

Synthesis and Evaluation of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle and its Application in Chemical Enhanced oil Recovery

“…They concluded that Silicon Carbide Nanoparticles could minimize surfactant adsorption by 44 %. [44] Figure 8 displays a schematic illustration of the mechanism.…”

“…Similar to our earlier experiments, the adsorption of surfactant particles at the sand surface was measured. [35,[44][45][46] In this work, 25 mL of 2500 ppm surfactant solutions with MSN of 100, 200, ChemistrySelect and 300 ppm concentration were prepared. A Labman Scientific Multiparameter LMMP-30 conductivity meter evaluated the samples for their conductivity.…”

Investigating the Influencing Factors of Imbibition of Fracturing Fluids in Tight Reservoirs

“…Based on the CT online experimental system, Yang et al explored the influence of pressure, permeability, and initial water saturation on imbibition distance according to changes in core water saturation during imbibition [44]. Ren et al investigated the imbibition recovery of carbonated water under high-pressure conditions through experimental design [45]. The research results showed that due to the unique properties of carbonated water, carbon dioxide diffusion also existed in the imbibition process to improve the imbibition recovery [45][46][47].…”

“…Ren et al investigated the imbibition recovery of carbonated water under high-pressure conditions through experimental design [45]. The research results showed that due to the unique properties of carbonated water, carbon dioxide diffusion also existed in the imbibition process to improve the imbibition recovery [45][46][47].…”