Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2025

Abstract

The oil and gas industry continually seeks innovative methods to enhance hydrocarbon recovery due to the declining productivity of conventional techniques. Current recovery methods, such as water flooding and chemical flooding, often face limitations like high interfacial tension, unfavorable wettability, and reduced mobility of oil, especially under harsh reservoir conditions of high salinity. To address these challenges, this study explores the implementation of nanotechnology in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), focusing on the distinct and unique properties of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles, particularly SiO2, were chosen for their ability to significantly decrease interfacial tension, alter wettability, and improve oil mobility. SiO2 nanoparticles exhibit high surface area-to-volume ratio, stability under reservoir conditions, and effectiveness in high salinity environments, making them superior to other nanoparticles in this context. This study discusses the modeling and optimization of different flooding scenarios using organic alkaline, ethylenediamine, and SiO2 nanoparticles under harsh reservoir conditions. Organic alkaline was selected to overcome issues related to inorganic alkaline, such as calcium and magnesium ion precipitation and polymer viscosity reduction. The physical properties of the displacing fluids and crude oil were measured, and flooding runs were tested on a linear sand pack unit using various slug concentrations. Wettability alterations were also observed with different concentrations. Design Expert software was utilized to generate and determine the optimum concentrations. The results demonstrated that the highest oil recovery was achieved with 0.7 wt.% ethylenediamine and 0.02475 wt.% Nano silica. These findings suggest that incorporating SiO2 nanoparticles in EOR can significantly enhance oil recovery efficiency under challenging reservoir conditions, offering a promising advancement over traditional methods.

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