Experimental study on electromagnetic-assisted ZnO nanofluid flooding for enhanced oil recovery (EOR)

Abstract

Recently, nano-EOR has emerged as a new frontier for improved and enhanced oil recovery (IOR & EOR). Despite their benefits, the nanoparticles tend to agglomerate at reservoir conditions which cause their detachment from the oil/water interface, and are consequently retained rather than transported through a porous medium. Dielectric nanoparticles including ZnO have been proposed to be a good replacement for EOR due to their high melting point and thermal properties. But more importantly, these particles can be polarized under electromagnetic (EM) irradiation, which provides an innovative smart Nano-EOR process denoted as EM-Assisted Nano-EOR. In this study, parameters involved in the oil recovery mechanism under EM waves, such as reducing mobility ratio, lowering interfacial tensions (IFT) and altering wettability were investigated. Two-phase displacement experiments were performed in sandpacks under the water-wet condition at 95°C, with permeability in the range of 265–300 mD. A crude oil from Tapis oil field was employed; while ZnO nanofluids of two different particle sizes (55.7 and 117.1 nm) were prepared using 0.1 wt. % nanoparticles that dispersed into brine (3 wt. % NaCl) along with SDBS as a dispersant. In each flooding scheme, three injection sequential scenarios have been conducted: (i) brine flooding as a secondary process, (ii) surfactant/nano/EM-assisted nano flooding, and (iii) second brine flooding to flush nanoparticles. Compare with surfactant flooding (2% original oil in place/OOIP) as tertiary recovery, nano flooding almost reaches 8.5–10.2% of OOIP. On the other hand, EM-assisted nano flooding provides an incremental oil recovery of approximately 9–10.4% of OOIP. By evaluating the contact angle and interfacial tension, it was established that the degree of IFT reduction plays a governing role in the oil displacement mechanism via nano-EOR, compare to mobility ratio. These results reveal a promising way to employ water-based ZnO nanofluid for enhanced oil recovery purposes at a relatively high reservoir temperature.

Polymer-functionalized silica nanoparticles for improving water flood sweep efficiency in Berea sandstones

“…The increase in oil recovery with decreasing NP size is consistent with the IFT reduction, see Table 4; small size NPs were efficient in lowering o/w interfacial tension, resulting in higher oil recovery than the large sized NPs. These results are in agreement with previous findings reported by others [12,19], but are also in contrast to the positive correlation observed between the NP size and oil recovery reported by Aurand, et al [22].…”

“…injection pressure and/or flowrate) to bring the injected NPs through the desired pathway and time to the target location [47]. If the differential pressure (dP) across the core is decreasing throughout EOR flooding, it may indicate emulsification of oil [19] otherwise, it indicates microscopic flow diversion due to pore plugging [4,6]. This information can lead to an understanding of the EOR mechanisms of NPs flooding.…”

“…This, in turn, makes it difficult to adequately grasp the oil recovery mechanisms of silica nanoparticles. Aside from i) IFT reduction and wettability alteration, which are the two most suggested mechanisms [11,15,16,18], NPs improve oil recovery by ii) structural disjoining pressure [26], iii) formation of emulsions [19][20][21], and iv) log-jamming effect [5-7, 13, 22-24]. In some circumstances, more than one mechanism is associated with oil recovery.…”

Mathematical Modeling and Simulation of Nanoparticle-Assisted Enhanced Oil Recovery—A Review

“…To achieve this goal, maximum extraction should be completed from the existing operational reservoirs, since a vast amount (up to 60%) of the oil remains untouched in the reservoirs due to limitations in the oil recovery process [2]. The process of oil extraction from the reservoirs has been classified into three different categories: (1) primary oil recovery, (2) secondary oil recovery, and (3) enhanced oil recovery [3]. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) comes into the picture after secondary recovery has taken place, in which up to 35-40% of the Original Oil In Place (OOIP) in the reservoir has been extracted using water flooding techniques.…”

Electromagnetic waves-induced hydrophobic multiwalled carbon nanotubes for enhanced oil recovery

“…With the increase in the demand of crude oil and reduction in oil sources, extracting additional oil is becoming more challenging (Alnarabiji et al 2014a(Alnarabiji et al , b, 2016Shafie et al 2014;Ahmed et al 2018;Adil et al 2018). Lately, nanosized materials have attracted wide attention due to their extraordinary characteristics (Ameen et al 2019;Ghanem et al 2018;Al-Swai et al 2018;Alnarabiji et al 2017Ali et al 2018;Chuah et al 2016;Alqasem et al 2017).…”