Investigation of the processes of additional oil displacement by nanosuspension silicon oxide from a model core

Abstract

The use of nanosuspensions during reservoir flooding is an alternative to chemical methods for enhancing oil recovery. In this work, the effectiveness of using nanosuspensions as a post-displacement agent after the base agent (water) was shown. Filtration tests for additional oil displacement from model rock samples were carried out. Suspensions of nanoparticles were used for post-displacement. The mass concentration of spherical silicon oxide nanoparticles (SiO2) varied from 0.01 to 0.25%wt, and their size varied from 10 to 35 nm. The permeability of the model core was 50 mD. An experimental measurement of the interfacial tension and the contact angle of wettability was performed. It is shown that with an increase in the concentration of nanoparticles, the interfacial tension of the “oil — suspension” decreases. It has been established that at a fixed concentration of nanoparticles (0.1%), with an increase in the size of nanoparticles, the interfacial tension decreases. It was revealed that when using suspensions, the contact angle of rock wetting with oil changes significantly. As a result of filtration tests, dependences of the oil displacement efficiency on the concentration and size of nanoparticles were obtained. It has been shown that additional volume of oil can be recovered after filtering nanosuspensions.