Surfactant (Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate) Coated Silica (SiO2) Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oil Recovery: An Optimized Approach

KONNE, JOSHUA LELESI; Udeh, Ogochukwu Vivian; Cookey, Grace Agbizu; NMEGBU, GODWIN CHUKWUMA JACOB

doi:10.22050/ijogst.2022.334848.1632

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ Associate Professor, Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

² Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

³ Associate Professor, Chemistry, Science, Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

⁴ Associate Professor, Petroleum, Engineering, Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

https://doi.org/10.22050/ijogst.2022.334848.1632

Abstract

Increasing demand of hydrocarbons has prompted new strategies of recovery by application of nanoparticle- surfactant flooding in Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (CEOR). Some mechanisms involved in improving oil mobility are alteration of rock wettability and reduction in interfacial tension between the oil and water. In this work, silica (SiO₂) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized, characterized and their effect on wettability alteration and interfacial tension (IFT) between the oil and SiO₂ NPs dispersed in Sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) solutions was determined. Experiments on displacement of oil by flooding with brine and NPs dispersed in SDS solution were investigated in a micro glass model. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) pattern and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) confirmed the mineral structure and platy polycrystallite morphologies that gave an estimated particle size of 88 nm using Scherrer’s formula. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) showed characteristic symmetric and asymmetric stretching vibrations. The wettability alteration and IFT measured showed changes in wettability from water-wet towards a more water-wet condition and a decrease in IFT respectively as the SDS concentration increased. The optimium oil recovery of 67.45% was obtained at 2.08 mM SDS when SDS concentrations were varied (2.08, 6.25, 8.33, 10.42 and 14.58 mM) at constant SiO₂ NPs (0.1% wt.). Having obtained the optimum oil volume from OOIP at 2.08 mM SDS, SiO₂ NPs concentration was varied (0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2 and 0.25% wt.) at constant SDS concentration (2.08 mM). This optimized approach gave an excellent total oil recovery of 78.36% at 0.2% wt. SiO2NPs. It is therefore recommended that 0.2% wt. SiO₂NPs with 2.08 mM SDS be applied in oil recovery.

Highlights

Application of Sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) coated silica nanoparticles in Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery
Wettability alteration and Interfacial Tension reduction (using survismeter)
Optimization of SDS coated silica nanoparticles and SDS concentration for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery

Keywords

Main Subjects

Petroleum Engineering

References

Al- Sulaimani, H., Yahya, A., Al- Bahry, S., Abdulkadir, E., Ali, A., And Sanket, J., Residual-Oil Recovery Through Injection of Biosurfactant, Chemical Surfactant and Mixtures of Both Under Reservoir Temperatures: Induced-Wettability and Interfacial-Tension Effects, Society of Petroleum Engineers: Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, Vol. 15, No. 2, p. 210-217, 2012.

Almubarak, M., Alyousef, Z., Almajid, M., Almubarak, T., And Ng, J.H., Enhancing Foam Stability Through a Combination of Surfactant and Nanoparticles. In: Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference. Https://Doi.Org/ 10.2118/202790-MS. Onepetro. 2020.

Biswal, N. R., Rangera, N., And Singh, J. K., Eﬀect Of Diﬀerent Surfactants on The Interfacial Behavior of the N-Hexane-Water System in The Presence of Silica Nanoparticles, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 120, p. 7265–7274, 2016.

Chen, C., Wang, S., Kadhum, M., Harwell, J., And Shiau, B., Using Carbonaceous Nanoparticles as Surfactant Carrier in Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Laboratory Study, Fuel, Vol. 222, p. 561-568, 2018.

Cheraghian, G., Kiani, S., Nassar, N., Alexander, S., And Barron, A., Silica Nanoparticles Enhancement in The Eﬃciency Of Surfactant ﬂooding Of Heavy Oil in A Glass Micromodel, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol. 56, p. 8528–8534, 2017.

Cheraghian, G., Rostami, S., And Afrand, M., Nanotechnology in Enhanced Oil Recovery, Processes, Vol. 8, No. 9, 1073 P., 2020.

Jonatas C.S.R., Aurora, P. G., Elizabeth, R. L., And Regina, S. V. N., Lipid Nanostructures as Surfactant Carriers for Enhanced Oil Recovery, Fuel, Vol. 239, p. 403-412, 2018.

Khademolhosseini, R., Jafari, A., Mousavi, S.M., And Manteghian, M., Investigation of Synergistic Effects between Silica Nanoparticles, Biosurfactant and Salinity in Simultaneous Flooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery. RSC Advances, Vol. 9 No. 35, p. 20281–20294, 2019.

Kumar, S., Tiwari, R., Husein, M., Kumar, N., And Yadav, U., Enhancing the Performance of HPAM Polymer Flooding Using Nano Cuo/Nanoclay Blend. Processes, Vol, 8, No. 8, P. 907, 2020.

Lau, H. C., Mu, M., And Nguyen, Q. P., Nanotechnology for Oil Field Applications: Challenges and Impact, Abu Dhbai International Petroleum Exhibit Conference, 2016.

Le, N., Pham, D.K., Le, K.H., And Nguyen, P.T., Design and Screening of Synergistic Blends of Sio₂ Nanoparticles and Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery in High-Temperature Reservoirs, Advance in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechology, Vol. 2, No. 3, p. 13–35, 2011.

Limbu, K., Shah, S. K., And Bhattarai, A., Micellization Behavior of Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate in Presence and Absence of Sodium Sulphate and Zinc Sulphate in Distilled Water by Surface Tension Measurement, BIBECHANA, Vol. 11, No. 1, p. 79-85, 2014.

Madmud, H. B., Tan, B. C., Giwelli, A., And Al-Rubaye, A. F., Numerical Analysis of Sio₂-SDS Surfactant Effect on Oil Recovery in Sandstone Reservoirs, Energy Geoscience, Vol. 2, p. 238-245, 2021.

Mahdi, M., Mahmoud, H. And Azadeh, S. S., An Experimental Study on Using a Nanosurfactant in An EOR Process of Heavy Oil in A Fractured Micromodel, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Vol. 126, p. 162-173, 2015.

Man, S., Survismeter 3-in 1 for Interfacial Tension (IFT), Surface Tension and Viscosity Measurements Simultaneously, Surface Interface Analysis, Vol. 40, p. 76-80, 2008.

Mobaraki, S., Zakavi, M., Mahmoodi, O., Omidvar S. M., Khalilinezhad, S.S., Shiri, R., and Torkmani, An Experimental Study on The Mechanisms of Enhancing Oil Recovery by Nanoparticles-Assisted Surfactant Flood, Geosystem Engineering, p. 1–17, 2018.

Nandiyanto, A.B.D. And Ragadhita, R.O.R., How to Read and Interpret FTIR Spectroscope of Organic Material, Indonesian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 97-118, 2019.

Nourafkan, E., Hu, Z., And Wen, D., Nanoparticle – Enabled Delivery of Surfactants in Porous Media, Journal of Colloid Interface Science, Vol. 519, p. 44–57, 2018.

Nwidee, L.N., Lebedev, M., Barifcani, A., Sarmadivaleh, M., And Iglauer, S., Wettability Alteration of Oil-Wet Limestone Using Surfactant-Nanoparticle Formulation, Journal of Colloid Interface Science, Vol. 504, p. 334–345. 2017.

Qian, C., Telmadarreie, A., Dong, M., And Bryant, S., Synergistic Effect Between Surfactant and Nanoparticles on The Stability of Foam in EOR Processes, Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal, Vol. 25, No. 02, p. 883-894, 2020.

Rashidi, A., Nazar, A.R.S., And Radnia, H., Application of Nanoparticles for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery, Iranian Journal of Oil and Gas Science and Technology, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2018.

Ruchi, N., Purnima, S And Fozia, Z. H., Synthesis and Characterization of Sio₂ Nanoparticles by Sol-Gel Process and Its Degradation of Methylene Blue, American Chemical Science Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 1-10, 2015.

Sandeep, R., Jain, S., And Agrawal, A., Application of Nanoparticles-Based Technologies in The Oil and Gas Industry. Nanotechnology For Energy and Environmental Engineering, p. 257- 277. 2020.

Sharma K. K. And Sharma, L.K. A Text Book of Physical Chemistry, Sixth Edition., India P. 85-93, Bikes Publishing House Pradesh, 2016.

Sharma, T., Iglauer, S., And Sangwal, J. S., Silica Nanofluids in An Oilfield Polymer Polyacrylamide: Interfacial Properties, Wettability Alteration and Applications for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery, Industrial Engineering Chemical Research, Vol. 55, No. 48, p. 12387-12397, 2016.

Sigamani, S., and Raghvendra, S., Synthesis of Sio₂ Nanoparticles by Sol-Gel Method and Their Optical and Structural Properties, Romanian Journal of Information Science and Technology, Vol. 23, No. 1, p. 105-112, 2020.

Sircar, A., Rayavarapu, K., And Bist, N., Applications of Nanoparticles in Enhanced Oil Recovery, Petroleum Research, Https://Doi.Org/10.1016/J.Ptlrs.2021.08.004, 2021.

Vatanparast, H., Shahabi, F., Bahramian, A., Javadi, A., Miller, R., The Role of Electrostatic Repulsion on Increasing Surface Activity of Anionic Surfactants in The Presence of Hydrophilic Silica Nanoparticles. Scientific Report, Vol. 8, No. 7251, 2018.

Wu, Y., Chen, W., Dai, C., Huang, Y., Li, H., Zhao, M., He, L., And Jiao, B., Reducing Surfactant Adsorption on Rock by Silica Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oil Recovery. Journal of Petroleum. Science and Engineering, Vol. 153, p. 283-28, 2017.

Yekeen, N., Padmanabhan, E., Hassan, S. A., Sevoo, T., and Kanesen, K., Synergistic Influence of Nanoparticles and Surfactants on Interfacial Tension Reduction, Wettability Alteration and Stabilization of Oil-In-Water Emulsion, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Vol. 186, 106779 P., 2020.

Youssif, M.I., Rehad, M. E., Sayed, M. S., And Ahmed, E., Silica Nanofluid Flooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Sandstone Rocks, Egyptian Journal of Petroleum, Http://Dx.Doi.Org/10.1016/J.Ejpe.2017.01.006, 2017.

Yuan, L., Zhang, Y., And Dehghanpour, H., A Theoretical Explanation for Wettability Alteration by Adding Nanoparticles in Oil-Water-Tight Rock Systems. Energy & Fuels, Vol. 35, No. 9, p. 7787-7798, 2021.

Zargartalebi, M., Barati, N., And Kharrat, R., Enhancement of Surfactant Flooding Performance by The Use of Sio₂ Nanoparticles, Fuel, Vol. 143, p. 2-27, 2015.

Zargartalebi, M., Barati, N., And Kharrat, R., Inﬂuences of Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Silica Nanoparticles on Anionic Surfactant Properties: Interfacial and Adsorption Behaviors, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Vol. 119, p. 36 - 43, 2014.

Surfactant (Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate) Coated Silica (SiO2) Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oil Recovery: An Optimized Approach

References

References

Volume 11, Issue 2 - Serial Number 39April 2022Pages 65-80

Volume 11, Issue 2 - Serial Number 39
April 2022
Pages 65-80