Nanoemulsion Flooding - The Journey to Field Begins

Characteristics and pH-Responsiveness of SDBS–Stabilized Crude Oil/Water Nanoemulsions

“…Emulsion stability is governed by a number of factors such as the emulsifier concentration, oil content, the characteristics of the emulsifier, the properties of the dispersed and continuous phase, the emulsification method, etc. Considering some recent studies which pinpoint the superiority of micro/nanoemulsion flooding relative to other tertiary EOR methods [ 23 , 24 , 25 ], extreme emulsion stability is a key requirement for deploying such a new oil recovery method. According to the results presented and discussed in the previous sections, the nanoemulsions formulated in this work possess interesting characteristics such as nano-sized emulsion droplets, highly negative zeta potential, reasonably low IFT, and attractive rheological behaviors.…”

“…Nanoemulsions have the potential to reduce IFT and, accordingly, the capillary pressure of the reservoir [ 1 ], improve rock wettability [ 1 ], ease the fracturing fluid flow-back [ 21 ], eliminate phase trapping [ 21 , 22 ], and increase the regained gas permeability [ 1 , 21 ]. Accordingly, some researchers have recently demonstrated the applicability of nanoemulsions in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) [ 23 , 24 , 25 ], production enhancement (e.g., well stimulation and remediation, well-bore cleaning, and formation fracturing) [ 26 , 27 , 28 ], and pumping of extra heavy crude oil [ 29 ]. For instance, it has been reported that nanoemulsions can (i) minimize/control water-cut [ 28 ], (ii) create new channels for gas flow (i.e., increase gas permeability) [ 28 ], (iii) increase proppant permeability and, accordingly, lower the initial cleanup pressure [ 30 ], (iv) reduce fingering [ 31 ], (v) enhance the flow-back rates of fracturing fluids [ 31 ], (vi) reduce/eliminate water blocking problems [ 27 ], and (vii) minimize surfactant adsorption to the reservoir rocks [ 1 ], among other beneficial effects.…”