Investigation of the Effect of Nanoparticle-Stabilized Foam on EOR: Nitrogen Foam and Methane Foam
Zhengxiao Xu, Binfei Li, Haiyang Zhao, Long He, Zhiliang Liu, Danqi Chen, Huiyu Yang, Zhaomin Li
Abstract
nanoparticles to the surfactant solution, the viscosity and stability of the formed foam improve. However, the maximum viscosity of the surfactant nanoparticle foam (surfactant-NP foam) is 53 mPa·s higher than that of the surfactant foam. In the core-flooding experiment, the plugging performance of the methane foam was worse than that of the nitrogen foam, and in the microfluidic experiment, the oil displacement abilities of the methane foam and the nitrogen foam were similar. The plugging performance and the oil displacement effect of the foam are greatly improved by adding nanoparticles. The surfactant-NP foam flooding has a better oil displacement effect and can enhance the recovery factor by more than 30%. Under actual high-pressure reservoir conditions, although the stability of the methane foam is weaker than that of the nitrogen foam, some methane may be dissolved in the crude oil to decrease the viscosity after the foam collapses, which leads to the methane foam being the preferred method in oilfields.