LAPSE:2020.1266
Published Article
LAPSE:2020.1266
The Effect of Wettability and Flow Rate on Oil Displacement Using Polymer-Coated Silica Nanoparticles: A Microfluidic Study
Mohamed Omran, Salem Akarri, Ole Torsaeter
December 22, 2020
Polymer-coated silica nanoparticles (PSiNPs) have been experimentally investigated in core- and micro-scale studies for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Wettability and flow rate have a considerable effect on oil displacement in porous media. This work investigates the efficiency of PSiNPs for oil recovery on micro-scale at three wettability states (water-wet, intermediate-wet, and oil-wet). In addition, a cluster mobilization regime is considered in all experiments. A microfluidic approach was utilized to perform flooding experiments with constant experimental settings such as flowrate, pore-structure, initial oil topology, porosity, and permeability. In this study, the wettability of the microfluidic chips was altered to have three states of wettability. Firstly, a micro-scale study (brine-oil-glass system) of each wettability condition effect on flow behavior was conducted via monitoring dynamic changes in the oleic phase. Secondly, the obtained results were used as a basis to understand the changes induced by the PSiNPs while flooding at the same conditions. The experimental data were extracted by means of image processing and analysis at a high spatial and temporal resolution. Low injection rate experiments (corresponding to ~1.26 m/day in reservoir) in a brine-oil-glass system showed that the waterflood invaded with a more stable front with a slower displacement velocity in the water-wet state compared to the other states, which had water channeling through the big pores. As a result, a faster stop of the dynamic changes for the intermediate- and oil-wet state was observed, leading to lower oil recoveries compared to the water-wet state. In a cluster mobilization regime, dynamic changes were noticeable only for the oil-wet condition. For the aforementioned different conditions, PSiNPs improved oil displacement efficiency. The usage of PSiNPs showed a better clusterization efficiency, leading to a higher mobilization, smaller remaining oil clusters, and lower connectivity of the residual oil. The knowledge from this experimental work adds to the understanding of the behavior of polymer-coated silica nanoparticles as a recovery agent at different wettability states and a cluster mobilization regime.
Keywords
EOR, microfluidics, nano-silica, nanoflooding, nanotechnology, wettability alteration
Subject
Suggested Citation
Omran M, Akarri S, Torsaeter O. The Effect of Wettability and Flow Rate on Oil Displacement Using Polymer-Coated Silica Nanoparticles: A Microfluidic Study. (2020). LAPSE:2020.1266
Author Affiliations
Omran M: Department of Geoscience and Petroleum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7031 Trondheim, Norway
Akarri S: Department of Geoscience and Petroleum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7031 Trondheim, Norway [ORCID]
Torsaeter O: Department of Geoscience and Petroleum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7031 Trondheim, Norway [ORCID]
Journal Name
Processes
Volume
8
Issue
8
Article Number
E991
Year
2020
Publication Date
2020-08-15
Published Version
ISSN
2227-9717
Version Comments
Original Submission
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PII: pr8080991, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2020.1266
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doi:10.3390/pr8080991
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Dec 22, 2020
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CC BY 4.0
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Dec 22, 2020
 
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Calvin Tsay
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