Surface-Functionalized Superparamagnetic Nanoparticles (SPNs) for Enhanced Oil Recovery: Effects of Surface Modifiers and Their Architectures

Abstract

Superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SPNs) have been considered as one of the most studied nanomaterials for subsurface applications, including in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), due to their unique physicochemical properties. However, a comprehensive understanding of the effect of surface functionalization on the ability of the nanoparticles to improve secondary and tertiary oil recoveries remains unclear. Therefore, investigations on the application of bare and surface-functionalized SPNs in EOR using a sand pack were carried out in this study. Here, the as-prepared SPNs were functionalized using oleic acid (OA) and polyacrylamide (PAM) to obtain several types of nanostructure architectures such as OA-SPN, core–shell SPN@PAM, and SPN-PAM. Based on the result, it is found that both the viscosity and mobility of the nanofluids were significantly affected by not only the concentration of the nanoparticles but also the type and architecture of the surface modifier, which dictated particle hydrophilicity. According to the sand pack tests, the nanofluid containing SPN-PAM was able to recover as much as 19.28% of additional oil in a relatively low concentration (0.9% w/v). The high oil recovery enhancement was presumably due to the ability of suspended SPN-PAM to act as a mobility control and wettability alteration agent and facilitate the formation of a Pickering emulsion and disjoining pressure.

Bifunctional folic-conjugated aspartic-modified Fe3O4 nanocarriers for efficient targeted anticancer drug delivery

“…88-0315) and those reported elsewhere. 2,7,8,[26][27][28][29] Besides, the result also demonstrated that the formation of such crystal phase and their degree of crystallinity was not affected by surface modication with aspartic acid. As shown, both unmodied and aspartic-modied Fe 3 O 4 exhibited a very similar XRD pattern.…”

“…Aspartic-modied Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were prepared using the co-precipitation method according to our previous works. 8,26,27 Typically, 0.87 g of FeCl 2 $4H 2 O and 2.22 g of FeCl 3 $6H 2 O were diluted in 40 mL of deionized water. Aerward, the mixture was then mixed using a magnetic stirrer for 30 minutes at 70 C. Subsequently, 5 mL of NH 4 OH was slowly added into the mixture while further stirred for another 30 minutes.…”

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

“…In this study, Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were prepared via the coprecipitation method according to our previous works. , Typically, 0.65 g of FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O (2.404 mmol) and 0.25 g of FeCl 2 ·4H 2 O (1.257 mmol) were dissolved in 50 mL of deionized water in a three-neck flask. Subsequently, the mixture was then heated at 70 °C for 30 min while vigorously mixed using a magnetic stirrer at 400 rpm.…”

“…Consequently, many oil companies and producers shift their strategies toward harvesting oil from mature fields, where more than 50% of the original oil in place (OOIP) is still unrecovered. During the past several years, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) via chemical flooding has been widely considered one of the most promising ways to improve the remaining hydrocarbon production from mature fields. − In general, chemical flooding typically reduces the interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water by injecting several types of chemicals, such as polymers, surfactants, alkalis, or their binary/ternary mixtures. − As the result of this significant reduction of IFT, the residual trapped oil can easily be extracted and mobilized from the porous media. In addition, such chemicals can also alter the rock surface’s wettability from oil-wet to water-wet, leading to the reduction of capillary forces that retain oil inside porous media. , Nevertheless, one of the significant challenges in chemical flooding is the injected surfactants and polymers’ inability to attain the desired efficient IFT reduction and wettability alteration due to the extreme reservoir condition.…”

“…Based on the result, the nanocomposite was found to significantly reduce oil viscosity by 103 cP, which ultimately led to the improvement of oil recovery by 10.8%. Recently, our group has also successfully employed a considerably low concentration of polyacrylamide (PAM)-modified Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles (0.9% w/v) to obtain a significant improvement of oil recovery by up to 19.28% of OOIP . It was believed that such excellent performance was primarily due to nanoparticles’ ability to act not only as a mobility control and wettability alteration agent but also to facilitate the formation of Pickering emulsion and disjoining pressure.…”