Stability of Nanoporous Silica Aerogel Dispersion as Wettability Alteration Agent

Abstract

This work studies the stability of silica aerogel aqueous dispersion for wettability alteration in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes. Modified silica aerogel is synthesized with cheap water glass as the precursor, and ambient pressure drying method. Brine composition, brine concentration and temperature of oil reservoirs are the most important parameters for success of wettability alteration processes in EOR. Stability of Silica aerogel aqueous dispersions in NaCl, MgCl 2 and combinations of them are surveyed. Brines at different concentrations, 10000, 20000, 40000 ppm, are used to determine stability conditions. Stability at 30 C and 75 C are surveyed, and the results are reported. DLVO and non-DLVO theories are used for modeling the stability of nanodispersion.

Influence of Chemical Heterogeneity and Nanoscale Roughness on the DLVO Energy Interaction by Spherical Coordinates

“…As described in previous works [5,14,29], by increasing the two sphere radius ratio up to 50, the big sphere behaves as flat surface in front of small sphere. Details of the spherical coordinate integration method are considered in previous works [29] and in this work we show the ability of the developed method to predict the chemical heterogeneity of smooth particles, surfaces and rough particles on the DLVO energy interaction.…”

“…Total interaction energy was evaluated by equation (8) [8,14,[24][25][26][27]29]. In previous works the forces are function of distance between in front points but in this work these forces are function of distance and position.…”

“…The patches position and size are selected so than they be in the calculated ZOI of two particle as defined in equation (13,14). The patches may have different zeta potentials in real systems and -25, 15, 40 and 50 mV the DLVO energy interactions are calculated which is shown in Fig.…”

“…The DLVO theory works at the base of wan der walls attraction forces and double layer repulsion forces. Assumptions of smooth surface, uniform chemical properties and ability of linear summation of attraction and repulsion forces are used in the DLVO theory [14].…”

Sol–Gel Tailored Synthesized Nanosilica for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Water-Wet and Oil-Wet Benthemier Sandstone

“…This results in the increase in recovery with the increase in particle size, up to a certain size of 30 nm, above which pore blockage may occur. Studies showed that nanoparticles tend to aggregate more as the size of particles increases; the greater the nanoparticles size, the more aggregation will occur …”