article · Micro and Nano Systems Letters
Zinc oxide nanofluids show strong potential for enhanced oil recovery, an advanced method used to extract residual crude oil. In laboratory evaluations, zinc oxide nanoparticles averaging 34 nanometres in size were formulated into nanofluids and treated with polymer stabilisers, specifically polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinylpyrrolidone. The stability of these fluids was assessed using sedimentation and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry. During flooding experiments, zinc oxide nanofluids stabilised with polyvinyl alcohol achieved an oil recovery rate of 82 percent, outperforming unstabilised nanofluids, which yielded the lowest recovery. Adding the polymers also substantially decreased interfacial tension, with reductions of 59 percent for polyvinyl alcohol and 61 percent for polyvinylpyrrolidone. In addition, increasing the fluid injection rate enhanced overall recovery and suppressed viscous fingering, leading to a more uniform displacement front.
Extracting remaining crude oil from mature reservoirs requires techniques that can dislodge trapped fluids. Incorporating polymer stabilisers into zinc oxide nanofluids lowers interfacial tension and improves how the fluid moves through rock formations. These findings help to identify chemical additives that make recovery agents more stable and efficient, offering a route to increase production yields from existing wells.
This work demonstrates an applied, laboratory-tested formulation for tertiary oil extraction. The primary users would be upstream oil and gas operators and oilfield service companies seeking to improve displacement efficiency in mature reservoirs. The approach relies on common polymer stabilisers combined with metal oxide nanoparticles, but taking this from core flooding tests toward real-world use will require verification under actual reservoir temperatures, pressures, and salinities.
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Abstract Nanofluids for enhanced oil recovery offer a breakthrough solution towards tertiary recovery and consequently higher oil production. Their ability to reduce interfacial tension, alteration of formation’s wettability, higher adsorption capacity, and acceleration of disjoining pressure makes them excellent candidates for enhanced oil recovery. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of polymers on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanofluids for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and the role played by chemical modification using polymer stabilizers on nanoparticle stability in nanofluids. Nanoparticles with an average particle size of 34 nm were synthesized and used to prepare nanofluids of different concentrations and their stability was evaluated using sedimentation and UV–vis spectrophotometry tests. ZnO-synthesized nanofluids were used solely and in addition to Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as stabilizing agents. It was noted that ZnO nanofluids with PVA stabilizer recorded the highest oil recovery of 82%. In contrast, the ZnO nanofluids without stabilizing agents registered the lowest recovery rate during the flooding experiment. The results revealed that a higher injection rate increases the oil recovery and reduces the viscous fingering effect with a better displacement front. Furthermore, nanofluids containing polymeric stabilizing agents achieved better recovery factors compared to ZnO nanofluids without stabilizing agents. This phenomenon was also observed in the interfacial tension test where nanofluids with PVA and PVP stabilizers reduced the IFT by 59% and 61% respectively.
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DOI: 10.1186/s40486-023-00180-z
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