Wettability Alteration in Carbonates using Zirconium Oxide Nanofluids: EOR Implications

Karimi, Ali; Fakhroueian, Zahra; Bahramian, Alireza; Khiabani, Nahid P.; Darabad, Jabar Babaee; Azin, Reza; Arya, Sharareh

doi:10.1021/ef201475u

Cited by 384 publications

(210 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(44 reference statements)

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“…The use of nanoparticles (NPs) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has received intensive attention since 2008, and much work has been conducted that can be generally categorized as: (i) the development of 'contrast-agent' type NPs to improve the detection limitation of seismic and EM techniques for better reservoir characterization [1][2][3]; (ii) the use of NPs as property modifiers, i.e., to alter rock wettability and interfacial tension at the oil/water interface in order to increase oil recovery rates [4][5][6][7]; and (iii) the use of NPs for conformance control such as nanoparticle-stabilized emulsions, and gelation materials to block the easy flow paths [8,9]. All these applications require nanoparticles to transport long distances in reservoir rocks with minimal retention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport and Deposition of Carbon Nanoparticles in Saturated Porous Media

Zhao

Gao

et al. 2017

Energies

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Carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) are becoming promising candidates for oil/gas applications due to their biocompatibility and size-dependent optical and electronic properties. Their applications, however, are always associated with the flow of nanoparticles inside a reservoir, i.e., a porous medium, where insufficient studies have been conducted. In this work, we synthesized CNPs with two different size categories in 200 nm carbon balls (CNP-200) and 5 nm carbon dots (CNP-5), via a hydrothermal carbonation process. Comprehensive experiments in packed glass bead columns, as well as mathematical simulations, were conducted to understand the transport and deposition of CNPs under various ionic strength, particle sizes and concentration conditions. Our results show that the retention of CNP-200 is highly sensitive to the salinity and particle concentrations, while both of them are unaffected in the transport of small CNP-5. Supplemented with Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory, the clean bed filtration theory with blocking effect can successfully fit the experimental breakthrough curves of CNP-200. However, the high breakthrough ability for CNP-5 regardless of ionic strength change is in conflict with the energy interactions predicted by traditional DLVO theory.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport and Deposition of Carbon Nanoparticles in Saturated Porous Media

Zhao

Gao

et al. 2017

Energies

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“…For example, Karimi et al [48] proved that NPs adsorbed on the calcite forming of nano textured surfaces by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and energy dispersive X ray (EDX) (Figure 10). Al-Anssari et al [28] tested the surface modification with SEM-EDS and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements.…”

Section: Wettability Alterationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results showed that TiO2 changed the quartz plate to be more strongly water-wet. Karimi et al [48] found that ZrO2-based nanofluids (ZrO2 NPs and mixtures of nonionic surfactants) had the same influence on the wettability alteration of a carbonate reservoir rock. Actually, the wettability alteration caused by nanofluids can be affected by many factors, such as NP concentration and size and water salinity.…”

Section: Wettability Alterationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of Nanoparticles in Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Critical Review of Recent Progress

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The injected fluids in secondary processes supplement the natural energy present in the reservoir to displace oil. The recovery efficiency mainly depends on the mechanism of pressure maintenance. However, the injected fluids in tertiary or enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes interact with the reservoir rock/oil system. Thus, EOR techniques are receiving substantial attention worldwide as the available oil resources are declining. However, some challenges, such as low sweep efficiency, high costs and potential formation damage, still hinder the further application of these EOR technologies. Current studies on nanoparticles are seen as potential solutions to most of the challenges associated with these traditional EOR techniques. This paper provides an overview of the latest studies about the use of nanoparticles to enhance oil recovery and paves the way for researchers who are interested in the integration of these progresses. The first part of this paper addresses studies about the major EOR mechanisms of nanoparticles used in the forms of nanofluids, nanoemulsions and nanocatalysts, including disjoining pressure, viscosity increase of injection fluids, preventing asphaltene precipitation, wettability alteration and interfacial tension reduction. This part is followed by a review of the most important research regarding various novel nano-assisted EOR methods where nanoparticles are used to target various existing thermal, chemical and gas methods. Finally, this review identifies the challenges and opportunities for future study regarding application of nanoparticles in EOR processes.

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“…Altering the reservoir's wettability from oil-wet to water-wet conditions induces extreme changes in displacement mechanisms (Standnes and Austad 2000a, b;Strand et al 2003Strand et al , 2008Somasundaran and Zhang 2006;Mohan et al 2011;Ravari et al 2011;Tabrizy et al 2011;Wang et al 2011;Park et al 2015). The kinetics of wettability in an oil reservoir are governed by the surface activity of a surfactant, which is initially influenced by solution chemistry (Jadhunandan and Morrow 1995;Strand et al 2008;Karimi et al 2012). Specifically, wettability influences oil displacement in porous media, and the IFT of the oil-water system controls capillary forces, shape of oil drops, oil mobilization, and consequently oil recovery (Donaldson et al 1989;Samanta et al 2011;Roustaei and Bagherzadeh 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of silica-based nanostructures with raspberry-like morphology and surfactant on the interfacial behavior of light, medium, and heavy crude oils at oil-aqueous interfaces

Bai

Korte

et al. 2017

Appl Nanosci

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Any efficient exploitation of new petroleum reservoirs necessitates developing methods to mobilize the crude oils from such reservoirs. Here silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO 2 NPs) were used to improve the efficiency of the chemical-enhanced oil recovery process that uses surfactant flooding. Specifically, SiO 2 NPs (i.e., 0, 0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, and 0.1 wt%) and Tween Ò 20, a nonionic surfactant, at 0, 0.5, and 2 critical micelle concentration (CMC) were varied to determine their effect on the stability of nanofluids and the interfacial tension (IFT) at the oil-aqueous interface for 5 wt% brine-surfactantSiO 2 nanofluid-oil systems for West Texas Intermediate light crude oil, Prudhoe Bay medium crude oil, and Lloydminster heavy crude oil. Our study demonstrates that SiO 2 NPs may either decrease, increase the IFT of the brinesurfactant-oil systems, or exhibit no effects at all. For the brine-surfactant-oil systems, the constituents of the oil and aqueous substances affected the IFT behavior, with the nanoparticles causing a contrast in IFT trends according to the type of crude oil. For the light oil system (0.5 and 2 CMC Tween threshold concentration resulted in a decrease in IFT, and concentrations above this threshold resulted in an increase in IFT. The IFT decreased until the NP concentration reached a threshold concentration where synergetic effects between nonionic surfactants and SiO 2 NPs are the opposite and result in antagonistic effects. Adsorption of both SiO 2 NPs and surfactants at an interface caused a synergistic effect and an increased reduction in IFT. The effectiveness of the brine-surfactant-SiO 2 nanofluids in decreasing the IFT between the oil-aqueous phase for the three tested crude oils were ranked as follows: (1) Prudhoe Bay [ (2) Lloydminster [ and (3) West Texas Intermediate. The level of asphaltenes and resins in these crude oil samples reflected these rankings. A decrease in the IFT also indicated the potential of the SiO 2 NPs to decrease capillary pressure and induce the movement and recovery of oil in original water-wet reservoirs. Conversely, an increase in IFT indicated the potential of SiO 2 NPs to increase capillary pressure and oil recovery in reservoirs subject to wettability reversal under water-wet conditions. Raspberrylike morphology particles were discovered in 5 wt% brinesurfactant-SiO 2 nanofluid-oil systems. The development of raspberry-like particles material with high surface area, high salt stability, and high capability of interfaces alteration and therefore wettability changes offers a wide range of applications in the fields of applied nanoscience, environmental engineering, and petroleum engineering.

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Wettability Alteration in Carbonates using Zirconium Oxide Nanofluids: EOR Implications

Cited by 384 publications

References 42 publications

Transport and Deposition of Carbon Nanoparticles in Saturated Porous Media

Transport and Deposition of Carbon Nanoparticles in Saturated Porous Media

Application of Nanoparticles in Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Critical Review of Recent Progress

Effects of silica-based nanostructures with raspberry-like morphology and surfactant on the interfacial behavior of light, medium, and heavy crude oils at oil-aqueous interfaces

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