Enhanced Oil Recovery by a Suspension of Core-Shell Polymeric Nanoparticles in Heterogeneous Low-Permeability Oil Reservoirs

Abstract

Polymeric nanoparticle suspension is a newly developed oil-displacing agent for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in low-permeability reservoirs. In this work, SiO2/P(MBAAm-co-AM) polymeric nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a simple distillation–precipitation polymerization method. Due to the introduction of polymer, the SiO2/P(MBAAm-co-AM) nanoparticles show a favorable swelling performance in aqueous solution, and their particle sizes increase from 631 to 1258 nm as the swelling times increase from 24 to 120 h. The apparent viscosity of SiO2/P(MBAAm-co-AM) suspension increases with an increase of mass concentration and swelling time, whereas it decreases as the salinity and temperature increase. The SiO2/P(MBAAm-co-AM) suspension behaves like a non-Newtonian fluid at lower shear rates, yet like a Newtonian fluid at shear rates greater than 300 s−1. The EOR tests of the SiO2/P(MBAAm-co-AM) suspension in heterogeneous, low-permeability cores show that SiO2/P(MBAAm-co-AM) nanoparticles can effectively improve the sweep efficiency and recover more residual oils. A high permeability ratio can result in a high incremental oil recovery in parallel cores. With an increase of the permeability ratio of parallel cores from 1.40 to 15.49, the ratios of incremental oil recoveries (low permeability/high permeability) change from 7.69/4.61 to 23.61/8.46. This work demonstrates that this SiO2/P(MBAAm-co-AM) suspension is an excellent conformance control agent for EOR in heterogeneous, low-permeability reservoirs. The findings of this study can help to further the understanding of the mechanisms of EOR using SiO2/P(MBAAm-co-AM) suspension in heterogeneous, low-permeability reservoirs.

Synthesis, Characterization, and Assessment of a CeO2@Nanoclay Nanocomposite for Enhanced Oil Recovery

“…Several studies on application of various nanoparticles combined with polymers and surfactnats as chemical additivies for EOR processes are reported in the literature. Researchers have investigated the the feasibility of EOR by using core-shell polymeric nanoparticles suspension in a low permeability heterogeneous oil reservoir [ 43 ]; conducted some high temperature (120 °C) corefloods to study the feasibility of using cellulose nanocrystals as additives to enhance the oil recovery of EOR processes [ 44 ]; used coreflooding and microfluidics to assesse the possibility of application of nanocellulose as an additive to enhance the efficiency of waterflooding [ 45 ]; conducted secondary and tertiary corefloods with polymer-coated silica nanoparticles on neutral-wet Berea sandstine samples saturated with a North Sea crude oil under ambient conditions and evaluated the factors affecting oil recovery [ 46 ]; reported experimental and filed scale research on design and application of nanofluid for EOR purposes aiming at understandibg the interactions between surfactant-nanoparticle and brine [ 47 ]; studied silica nanoparticles’ stability under reservoir conditions for EOR purposes [ 48 ]; investigated the relations between pore size distribution and oil-water relative permeability on effectivenese of anionic surfactant and silica nanoparticles in EOR processes in carbonate petroleum reservoirs. Researchers have recently investigated the possibility of coupling conventional nanofluid flooding with electromagnetic waves of varying frequencies to boost the oil mobility in the porous media and alter the oil-nanoparticle interface to facilitate detachment of oil droplets from the rock surface and to encourage their flow into the production well.…”

Review on Oil Displacement Technologies of Enhanced Oil Recovery: State-of-the-Art and Outlook

“…After much literature research and laboratory investigation, a variety of existing experimental devices are divided into four categories in this review, i.e., oil displacement device with microscopic visualization, − oil displacement device using sand-filling tube test, ,,− core displacement test device, ,,− oil displacement device using glass beads, ,,− and 3D multifield coupling experimental system. − …”

Optimized hydrophobic magnetic nanoparticles stabilized pickering emulsion for enhanced oil recovery in complex porous media of reservoir

“…However, in the water injection development stage of oil reservoirs, the oil recovery efficiency sharply decreases due to the breakthrough of the water flooding front caused by the viscous fingering of the injected water in the high permeability areas of oil reservoirs (Long et al, 2019a;Suleimanov et al, 2022). Therefore, it is urgent to improve oil recovery from reservoirs after water injection development in order to exploit oil resources more effectively, improve the efficiency of oil resources utilization, reduce resource waste and meet global energy demand and economic development (Long et al, 2019b;Gogoi and Gogoi, 2019). Among numerous methods for improving oil recovery, the emulsion flooding technology has been much concerned by the public (Carvalho and Alvarado, 2014;Cheraghian et al, 2020).…”