Enhanced Oil Recovery for Carbonate Oil Reservoir by Using Nano-Surfactant:Part II

Abstract

Excellent attempts have been made worldwide to improve oil recovery. Nano technology features in EOR have been the focus of attention over the past century. The introduction of nanotechnology began in the late 1980s and was created to synthesize fresh nano-materials by rearranging atoms and molecules. Based on the small partition size of NPs (1-100) nm, the optical, thermal, chemical and structural properties of the nanomaterial differ completely from those shown by either its atoms or bulk materials. It is also clear that surfactants contribute to the stability of nanoparticles and emulsions with the aim of reducing IFT and changing rock wettability to water-wet. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of nano particles and surfactant on improving oil recovery in carbonate reservoirs. Two key parameters were examined: silica nano particles and silica nano particles with Sodium Dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as an anionic surfactant. Finally, flooding test showed that using 0.03wt% SiO2 with 0.158 wt% SDS can improve oil recovery by 15.1% and minimize residual oil saturation to 25.6%. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) were also done for thin core samples and the results have been discussed.