High resolution schemes for hyperbolic conservation laws

Review of the litterature available outside the petroleum industry concerning wettability. This litterature discusses surface forces and their effects on wettability, including van der Waal and electrostatic forces. Hydrogen bonding and ion/water interactions, are also discussed. Advancing and receding contact angles for oil/water/mineral systems in terms of these surface forces are described.

Wettability : fundamentals and surface forces

A comprehensive review of experimental studies of nanoparticles-stabilized foam for enhanced oil recovery

Recent advancements in material technologies have promoted the development of various preparation strategies and applications of novel polymer–nanoclay composites. Innovative synthesis pathways have resulted in novel polymer–nanoclay composites with improved properties, which have been successfully incorporated in diverse fields such as aerospace, automobile, construction, petroleum, biomedical and wastewater treatment. These composites are recognized as promising advanced materials due to their superior properties, such as enhanced density, strength, relatively large surface areas, high elastic modulus, flame retardancy, and thermomechanical/optoelectronic/magnetic properties. The primary focus of this review is to deliver an up-to-date overview of polymer–nanoclay composites along with their synthesis routes and applications. The discussion highlights potential future directions for this emerging field of research.

A Review of the Synthesis and Applications of Polymer–Nanoclay Composites

Research on nanotechnology application in the oil and gas industry has been growing rapidly in the past decade, as evidenced by the number of scientific articles published in the field. With oil and gas reserves harder to find, access, and produce, the pursuit of more game-changing technologies that can address the challenges of the industry has stimulated this growth. Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize the petroleum industry both upstream and downstream, including exploration, drilling, production, and enhanced oil recovery (EOR), as well as refinery processes. It provides a wide range of alternatives for technologies and materials to be utilized in the petroleum industry. Nanoscale materials in various forms such as solid composites, complex fluids, and functional nanoparticle-fluid combinations are key to the new technological advances. This paper aims to provide a state-of-the-art review on the application of nanoparticles and technology in the petroleum industry, and focuses on enhanced oil recovery. We briefly summarize nanotechnology application in exploration and reservoir characterization, drilling and completion, production and stimulation, and refinery. Thereafter, this paper focuses on the application of nanoparticles in EOR. The different types of nanomaterials, e.g., silica, aluminum oxides, iron oxide, nickel oxide, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, zirconium oxide, polymers, and carbon nanotubes that have been studied in EOR are discussed with respect to their properties, their performance, advantages, and disadvantages. We then elaborate upon the parameters that will affect the performance of nanoparticles in EOR, and guidelines for promising recovery factors are emphasized. The mechanisms of the nanoparticles in the EOR processes are then underlined, such as wettability alteration, interfacial tension reduction, disjoining pressure, and viscosity control. The objective of this review is to present a wide range of knowledge and expertise related to the nanotechnology application in the petroleum industry in general, and the EOR process in particular. The challenges and future research directions for nano-EOR are pinpointed.

A State-of-the-Art Review of Nanoparticles Application in Petroleum with a Focus on Enhanced Oil Recovery

An experimental investigation of nanoparticle-stabilized CO2 foam used in enhanced oil recovery

Improved sweep efficiency due to foam flooding in a heterogeneous microfluidic device

Instabilities in immiscible displacement along fluid−fluid displacement fronts in porous media are undesirable in many natural and engineered displacement processes such as geological carbon sequestration and enhanced oil recovery. In this study, a series of immiscible displacement experiments are conducted using a microfluidic platform across a wide range of capillary numbers and viscosity ratios. The microfluidic device features a water-wet porous medium, which is a two-dimensional representation of a Berea sandstone. Data is captured using a high-resolution camera, enabling visualization of the entire domain, while being able to resolve features as small as 10 µm. The study reports a correlation between fractal dimensions of displacement fronts and displacement front patterns in the medium. Results are mapped on a two-dimensional parameter space of log M and log Ca, and stability diagrams proposed in literature for drainage processes are superimposed for comparison. Compared to recent reports in the literature, the results in this work suggest that transition regimes may constitute a slightly larger portion of the overall flow regime diagram. This two-phase immiscible displacement study helps elucidate macroscopic processes at the continuum scale and provides insights relevant to enhanced oil recovery processes and the design of engineered porous media such as exchange columns and membranes.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/7/1390/pdf

An Experimental Investigation of Flow Regimes in Imbibition and Drainage Using a Microfluidic Platform

Fly ash nanoparticles (NPs), a by-product of coal combustion power plants, and recyclable iron oxide NPs are used to stabilize CO2 foam for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes as part of carbon capture, utilization and storage. The mean size of fly ash NPs is reduced to the nano-scale (40–80 nm) by a two stage grinding process. Iron oxide (IO) NPs are synthesized through Fe2+ and Fe3+ co-precipitation. The size and uniformity of the dispersion of NPs are characterized via dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The stability and formability of NP-stabilized foam are investigated via a modified bulk foam test. The resulting improvement in oil recovery is investigated using flow experiments using a microfluidic device fabricated based on a two-dimensional representation of a Berea sandstone. The effects of the type of NP (fly ash and IO) on CO2 foam stability and the resulting incremental oil recovery are investigated and discussed. The results show that fly ash NPs with an Alpha-Olefin Sulfonate (AOS)–Lauramidopropyl betaine (LAPB) surfactant mixture provide excellent formability and stability (half-life 280 min) and resulted in over 90% recovery of the incremental oil after a waterflood in microfluidic experiments. Moreover, the material cost of fly ash NPs is significantly less than commonly used silica NPs. IO NP stabilized foam has an inferior foam stability and formability compared to fly ash stabilized foam; IO NPs can, however, be recycled using a magnetic field – the average recovery from the outflow of the microfluidic experiments was approximately 76%.

Saman A. Aryana

Papers

A Review of the Synthesis and Applications of Polymer–Nanoclay Composites

An experimental investigation of nanoparticle-stabilized CO2 foam used in enhanced oil recovery

Improved sweep efficiency due to foam flooding in a heterogeneous microfluidic device

An Experimental Investigation of Flow Regimes in Imbibition and Drainage Using a Microfluidic Platform

Stabilization of CO2 foam using by-product fly ash and recyclable iron oxide nanoparticles to improve carbon utilization in EOR processes