Study of Fines Mobilization by Flow Rate in the Presence of Aluminium Oxide Nanoparticles

Abstract

Abstract One major factor that triggers fines migration in formations during hydrocarbon production especially in the presence of water is high flow rates. Low flow rates have been recommended to prevent fines mobilization but this solution is not always practical because there is a critical rate below which production becomes uneconomical. It is the objective of this work to find out if the presence of Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles in sand can allow for a relatively high flow rate without mobilization of the clayey fines. The experiments were conducted under different flow rates ranging from 3 – 9ml/min. while flowing brine of 30g/l salinity through the sand until breakthrough of fines occurred. In the first phase of the experiments, the clayey fines were contained in the sand samples while in the second phase, the fines were contained in the injected fluid flowing through the sand. Experimental results showed that relatively large volumes of fines free brine can flow through sands containing Al2O3 nanoparticles at relatively higher flow rates without fines mobilization which is in contrast to the reference experiments. At a flow rate of 9ml/min. for the first phase of experiments in the presence of medium crude, fines breakthrough occurred at 1pore volume for the reference experiment while fines breakthrough occurred in the samples containing Al2O3 nanoparticles after flowing more than 12pore volumes of brine through the sand. For the second set of experiments, fines breakthrough occurred at 1pore volumes for the reference case while it occurred in the samples containing Al2O3 nanoparticles after flowing about 6pore volumes of brine at a flow rate of 5ml/min. in the presence of medium crude. This implies that at certain increased flow rates, large volumes of brine can be produced from sands containing Al2O3 nanoparticles before clayey fines are mobilized compared to when Al2O3 nanoparticles are absent in the sand. This indicates that Al2O3 nanoparticles have the capacity to delay fines migration in sand at relatively high flow rates.