De-Emulsification and Gravity Separation of Micro-Emulsion Produced with Enhanced Oil Recovery Chemicals Flooding

Mohammad Kamal Asif Khan, Javed Akbar Khan, Habib Ullah, Hussain Al-Kayiem, Sonny Irawan, Muhammad Irfan, Adam Glowacz, Hui Liu, Witold Glowacz and Saifur Rahman
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Mohammad Kamal Asif Khan: Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Najran University, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia
Javed Akbar Khan: Mechanical Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Malaysia
Habib Ullah: Fundamental and Applied Sciences Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Malaysia
Sonny Irawan: School of Mining & Geosciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan City 010000, Kazakhstan
Muhammad Irfan: Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Najran University, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia
Adam Glowacz: Department of Automatic Control and Robotics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Automatics, Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology, Al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Hui Liu: College of Quality and Safety Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Witold Glowacz: Department of Automatic Control and Robotics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Automatics, Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology, Al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Saifur Rahman: Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Najran University, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: The present study investigates the effect of TiO 2 nanoparticles on the stability of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)-produced stable emulsion. The chemical precipitation method is used to synthesize TiO 2 nanoparticles, and their properties were determined using various analytical characterization techniques such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The effect of TiO 2 nanoparticles is evaluated by measuring oil/water (o/w) separation, rag layer formation, oil droplet size, and zeta potential of the residual EOR produced emulsion. The laser scattering technique is used to determine the o/w separation. The results showed that spherical-shaped anatase phase TiO 2 nanoparticles were produced with an average particle size of 122 nm. The TiO 2 nanoparticles had a positive effect on o/w separation and the clarity of the separated water. The separated aqueous phases’ clarity is 75% and 45% with and without TiO 2 nanoparticles, respectively. Laser scattering analysis revealed enhanced light transmission in the presence of TiO 2 nanoparticles, suggesting higher o/w separation of the ASP-produced emulsion. The overall increase in the o/w separation was recorded to be 19% in the presence of TiO 2 nanoparticles, indicating a decrease in the stability of ASP-produced emulsion. This decrease in the stability can be attributed to the improved coalescence’ action between the adjacent oil droplets and improved behavior of o/w interfacial film. An observable difference was found between the oil droplet size before and after the addition of TiO 2 nanoparticles, where the oil droplet size increased from 3 µm to 35 µm. A similar trend of zeta potential is also noticed in the presence of TiO 2 nanoparticles. Zeta potential was −13 mV to −7 mV, which is in the unstable emulsion range. Overall, the o/w separation is enhanced by introducing TiO 2 nanoparticles into ASP-produced stable emulsion.

Keywords: EOR flooding; emulsification; gravity separation; laser scattering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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