The study of the spontaneous oil imbibition in the presence of new polymer-coated nanocomposites compatible with reservoir conditions
Yaser Ahmadi, Milad Malekpour, Tavan Kikhavani, Behruz Bayati
Abstract
In this study, the effect of salinity on the enhanced oil recovery process in the presence of commercial silica nanoparticles and a new synthesized polymeric ZnO/SiO2/Xhantan nanocomposites (NCs) at reservoir conditions were investigated. First, the crystal structure and morphology of the NCs were investigated using x-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and energy-dispersive x-ray. Then, the effect of silica nanoparticles and NCs on the change of wettability and interfacial tension at different salinities and reservoir conditions was studied. For 2 SW (seawater) and 10 SW (two times diluted seawater), silica and NCs decreased contact angle from (79 °, 75 °) to (78 °, 74 °) and (70 °, 62 °), respectively. Zeta potential results are −31.37 and −28.00 for 10 SW and 2 SW concentrations, which show the perfectly stable and relatively stable regions, respectively. Moreover, interfacial tension was decreased more in the presence of 10 SW in comparison to 2 SW, and the oil recovery at 2 SW and 10 SW concentrations were 51.71% and 70.25%, respectively, at 0.05 wt% NCs concentration which main reasons are improving wettability, interfacial tension, and stability.