<i>In Situ</i> Produced Nanoparticles at the Oil–Water Interface for Conformance Control and Enhanced Oil Recovery
Zhongliang Hu, Layth Al-Ameri, Jabbar Gardy, Mahmoud Alhreez, Dongsheng Wen
Abstract
NPs in microchannels could alter the substrate wettability toward neutral wetting. Moreover, the produced NPs tended to assemble on the immiscible oil-water interface, forming a barrier toward interface deformation. As the reaction continued, excessive surface-modified NPs could also diffuse into aqueous brine and accumulate as a soft gel in the flowing path swept by brine. Collectively, these processes induced a "shut-off" effect and diverted displacing fluids to unswept areas, which consequently increased the sweep efficiency and improved the oil recovery efficiency. Auxiliary bulk-scale experiments also showed that the reaction-induced nanoparticle synthesis and assembly at an immiscible interface reduced the interfacial tension and generated an elastic oil-water interface.