Numerical Investigation of Enhanced Oil Recovery from various Rocks by Nanosuspensions Flooding

Abstract

This work is devoted to the systematic numerical simulation of oil displacement using nanosuspension with silicon oxide particles with concentration of up to 1 wt% and particle sizes of 5 nm. The influence of such factors as core wettability, concentration of nanoparticles, capillary number, and oil viscosity on the enhanced oil recovery by nanosuspension has been systematically investigated using the VOF method for 2D-dimensional micromodels. Various rocks were considered: dolomite, metabasalt and sandstone. It is shown that the oil recovery coefficient improves for all considered types of rock with increasing nanoparticle concentration. The most effective application of nanosuspension for enhanced oil recovery is observed at a low capillary number, corresponding to the capillary displacement mode. The addition of nanoparticles facilitates increasing oil recovery factor in a wide range of viscosity ratios between oil and displacement fluid.