Effect of Modified Fe₃O₄ Magnetic NPs on the Absorption Capacity of CO₂ in Water, Wettability Alteration of Carbonate Rock Surface, and Water–Oil Interfacial Tension for Oilfield Applications

Abstract

Implementation of carbonated water in the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process for oil reservoirs by increasing the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) content in water causes interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and carbonated water to decline, thereby increasing the areal sweep efficiency as well as oil recovery. For this reason, the main purpose of this research was to examine the effect of using polymer-based Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles (NPs) on the amount of CO 2 absorption in distilled water under different conditions (pressure: 20−40 bar, temperature: 35−60 °C, concentration of NPs: 0.01 to 0.14 wt %). To this end, two experimental setups were employed to measure the amount of CO 2 absorption in water in the presence of bare Fe 3 O 4 NPs, Fe 3 O 4 NPs coated by poly(vinyl alcohol) (FPVA), and Fe 3 O 4 NPs coated by polyacrylamide (FPAM) synthesized by the co-precipitation technique, and the IFT between oil and carbonated water. The results revealed that the presence of FPVA and FPAM NPs in water causes the amount of CO 2 absorption to enhance up to 20.2 and 23.3%, respectively, as compared to water alone at 40 bar. Subsequently, to evaluate the potential of the synthesized NPs in reducing capillary pressure in oil reservoirs, the interfacial tension (IFT) between carbonated water containing each of these three NPs alone with the concentration of 0.01 wt % (Fe 3 O 4 , FPVA, FPAM NPs) and oil at various pressures and temperatures up to 80 bar and 80 °C, respectively, was measured. The results demonstrated that a maximum reduction in the IFT between oil and carbonated water in the presence of modified Fe 3 O 4 NPs was found (31.91%) as compared to bare Fe 3 O 4 NPs under the conditions investigated in this work. Eventually, it was observed that the modified NPs (i.e., FPVA and FPAM NPs) effectively enhanced the properties of the bare Fe 3 O 4 NPs by improving the hydrophilicity of the carbonate rock surface.

Thermosensitive Core–Shell Fe3O4@poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Nanogels for Enhanced Oil Recovery

“…In general, several mechanisms have been linked to being the leading cause for such excellent ability. One of these was the suspended nanoparticles’ ability such as Fe 3 O 4 to alter the rock surface wettability from oil-wet to water-wet. ,, This wettability alteration ability was believed to occur due to the nanoparticles’ high surface energy, which was responsible for their strong adsorption at the rock’s surface . Also, suspended nanoparticles were also reported to be responsible for the further enhancement in oil recovery due to their ability to significantly reduce the interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water .…”

Highly Selective Physical/Chemical CO2 Separation by Functionalized Fe3O4 Nanoparticles in Hollow Fiber Membrane Contactors: Experimental and Modeling Approaches

“…The presence of nanoparticles makes a significant contribution to the improvement of CO 2 absorption by liquid absorbents due to application of various effective mechanisms such as Brownian movements and the shuttle effect. These mechanisms were explained in detail in our previous works. ,, The effect of Brownian motion can be evaluated by the below equation: where D nf is the nanofluid diffusion coefficient, D bf is the base fluid diffusion coefficient, Re is the Reynolds number and can be calculated by eq , Sc is the Schmidt number, and ø is the NP volume fraction. m 1 , m 2 , m 3 , and m 4 are constant values of 1650, 0.039, 1.064, and 0.203, respectively. where K is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature, ρ is the liquid absorbent density, d p is the NP diameter, ρ p is the NP density, and μ is the dynamic viscosity of the liquid phase.…”

“…These mechanisms were explained in detail in our previous works. 33,42,43 The effect of Brownian motion can be evaluated by the below equation: 44…”

Deep Eutectic Solvents for Water Vapor Absorption: A New Strategy

“…Natural gas contains varying impurities such as water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), nitrogen, and hydrogen sul de, which must be removed to reach a standard level before entering the pipelines. Natural gas re ning or puri cation includes processes, such as the separation of heavy hydrocarbons and various liquids, acid gases (hydrogen sul de and CO 2 ), and water vapor [1][2][3][4][5]. Separation of water vapor from natural gas is a crucial process to prevent hydrate formation, pressure drop, and corrosion in the pipelines [6][7][8][9][10].…”