Naturally Derived Silicate-based Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Sandstone Reservoirs
Date
2020-11-16
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Abstract
Chemical enhanced oil recovery (C-EOR) is a commonplace method used extensively to extract trapped oil with reasonable recovery percentages during the tertiary stage of oil production. Besides, new technologies have emerged and have been tested for their efficiency to increase oil recovery after the conventional primary and secondary recovery techniques. Nanoparticles as a branch of nanotechnology are emerging as a new alternative technology for C-EOR and recovery processes of trapped oil. Tunable silicate-based nanoparticles as nanofluids can be injected into the reservoir at the secondary/tertiary stage as a standalone or when coupled with some other existing conventional techniques to enhance the recovery of the remaining trapped oil. Nanofluids can be introduced into the reservoir at a typical chemical flood configuration to produce more oil by changing the geochemical properties of the reservoir such as wettability, disjoining pressure, IFT etc. In the first phase of this study, silicate-based nanoparticles were synthesized, then partially altered their functionality by anchoring various agents such as silanes and polymers, generating various forms of functionalized silicate-based nanoparticles. Characterization techniques, such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and zeta potential were conducted for the produced nanoparticles to confirm their surface identity, functionality, stability, and morphology. The EOR performance was investigated by mainly interfacial tension (IFT), contact angle, spontaneous imbibition, relative permeability measurements, conducting aggregation experiments and displacement tests using Berea sandstone cores at reservoir conditions. Results showed that the synthesized nanoparticles either alone or when integrated with existing conventional techniques can recover substantial trapped oil at the tertiary stage. Furthermore, a considerable improvement of oil recovery was achieved by combining silicate-based nanoparticles with low salinity water flooding. Subsequently, using silicate-based nanoparticles as EOR agents provides a prospect of being applied in EOR.
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Keywords
Enhanced oil recovery, nanopyroxene, wettability, nanotechnology, imbibition
Citation
Sagala, F. (2020). Naturally Derived Silicate-based Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Sandstone Reservoirs (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.