Impact of nanoparticle structure on the effectiveness of Pickering emulsions for EOR applications
Baghir A. Suleimanov, Elchin F. Veliyev, Azizagha A. Aliyev
Abstract
Today, the amount of residual oil in the world averages more than 70% of the original geological reserves. With increasing number of mature oil fields, exploitation of these reserves becomes an important task. In this context, Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques, represented by a wide range of modern technologies, are becoming more and more important year by year. The majority of implementations are occupied by physical and chemical EOR methods based on the injection of chemical compounds into formations. One of the most promising and effective technologies of mentioned methods is "oil-in-water" inverse emulsions. However, this technology has serious limitations for implementation in high temperature reservoirs. This issue requires development of new emulsion types which overcome these drawbacks. One of the promising technologies in this regard is so-called Pickering emulsions application. In this research Pickering emulsions composition stabilized by SiO2 nanoparticles had been obtained. The impact of nanoparticles structure was evaluated within the frame of emulsion stabilization. To this end, experiments were performed to determine the zeta potential, particle size distribution of the dispersed phase, rheological properties at different temperature conditions. Sand pack displacement experiments showed a high potential of oil recovery increase while practical implementation of the proposed compositions.