Experimental Improvement of Nano-Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Nano-Emulsions

Abstract

Water injection is used for increasing the recovery factor as well as the reservoir’s life time. Although this method improves the production efficiency, however, its performance has been enhanced using some procedures. One of these methods is surfactant injection into the oil reservoirs by the water injection process. In this study, the flow rate of the produced oil was improved by injection of amphoteric surfactant (coco amido propyl betaine) at different concentrations (1,000, 2,500, 5,000 and 7,500 ppm). Next, the morphology of water and surfactant was screened on the sand-packed matrix using spiral CT-scanner. According to that CT images, the in situ phenomena during water or surfactant injection were captured. The FTIR-ATR tests were performed on the samples of the process of water and surfactant injection. The experimental results revealed that the injection of the above-mentioned surfactant (at concentration of 1,000 ppm) increased the recovery factor up to 40%. Likewise, the injection of the above-mentioned amphoteric surfactant reduced the interfacial tension of oil and reservoir’s rock, leading to more oil recovery. The extraction time was increased in the presence of the above-mentioned surfactant owing to the postponed stage of water breakthrough. The above-mentioned surfactant in the process of water injection improved the oil production from the sand-packed matrix.