SDS–Aluminum Oxide Nanofluid for Enhanced Oil Recovery: IFT, Adsorption, and Oil Displacement Efficiency

Abstract

Surfactant flooding is one of the most promising chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) methods to produce residual oil in reservoirs. Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted extensive attention because of their significant characteristics and capabilities to improve oil recovery. The aim of this study is to scrutinize the synergistic effect of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as an anionic surfactant and aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) on the efficiency of surfactant flooding. Extensive series of interfacial tension and surfactant adsorption measurements were conducted at different concentrations of SDS and Al 2 O 3 NPs. Furthermore, different surfactant adsorption isotherm models were fitted to the experimental data, and constants for each model were calculated. Additionally, oil displacement tests were performed at 25 °C and atmospheric pressure to indicate the suitability of SDS–Al 2 O 3 for CEOR. Analysis of this study shows that the interfacial tension (IFT) reduction between aqueous phase and crude oil is enhanced considerably by 76%, and the adsorption density of SDS onto sandstone rock is decreased remarkably from 1.76 to 0.49 mg/g in the presence of these NPs. Although the effectiveness of NPs gradually increases with the increase of their concentration, there is an optimal value of Al 2 O 3 NP concentration. Moreover, oil recovery was increased from 48.96 to 64.14% by adding 0.3 wt % NPs to the surfactant solution, which demonstrates the competency of SDS–Al 2 O 3 nanofluids for CEOR.

Synergistic Effect of Low Salinity Surfactant Nanofluid on the Interfacial Tension of Oil–Water Systems, Wettability Alteration, and Surfactant Adsorption on the Quartz Surface

“…Generally, R L < 1 is favorable, R L > 1 is unfavorable, and R L = 0 or 1 indicates an irreversible and linear adsorption process. The value of R L in this work is between 0.97101 and 0.95386, which means adsorption is favorable …”

“…The value of R L in this work is between 0.97101 and 0.95386, which means adsorption is favorable. 94 The Freundlich model plot is obtained by fitting data into the equation cited in Table 2 and depicted in Figure 12c. The parameters, viz., inverse adsorption intensity (1/n), adsorption capacity (K f ), equation, and regression coefficient (R 2 ) are listed in Table 3.…”

Sodium fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether carboxylate/cationic surfactant binary system for high‐salt oil reservoir

“…Feng et al (2018) used 1% OP-10 and 0.25% AP-P4 to achieve a binary-composite flooding, and they evaluated the recovery of the composite flooding by core experiments at 66.2%. Tavakkoli et al (2022) enhanced the recovery to 64.14% by adding 0.3 wt% alumina nanoparticles to SDS. On this basis, these binary composite drives have favorable oil washing efficiency at high mineralization.…”

Facile Fabrication of a Robust Superhydrophilic/Underwater Superoleophobic Material for Oil-Fouling Expulsion

“…An alternative strategy involves removing the fouled oil from surfaces through cleaning following the occurrence of oil fouling. However, this approach usually requires various surfactants and detergents, − which generate emulsion wastewater and cause metal surface corrosion. Thus, the self-cleaning of fouled surfaces, by in situ photodegradation, − has been investigated.…”