Polymer-Coated Nanoparticles and Pickering Emulsions as Agents for Enhanced Oil Recovery: Basic Studies Using a Porous Medium Model

Christina Ntente, Anastasia Strekla, Zacharoula Iatridi, Maria Theodoropoulou, Georgios Bokias and Christos D. Tsakiroglou ()
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Christina Ntente: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, 26504 Patras, Greece
Anastasia Strekla: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, 26504 Patras, Greece
Zacharoula Iatridi: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, 26504 Patras, Greece
Maria Theodoropoulou: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, 26504 Patras, Greece
Georgios Bokias: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, 26504 Patras, Greece
Christos D. Tsakiroglou: Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, 26504 Patras, Greece

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-23

Abstract: Globally the overall oil recovery factors for primary and secondary recovery range from 35% to 45%, and a tertiary recovery method that can enhance the recovery factor by 10–30% could contribute to the energy supply. The use of nanoparticles in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes comprises an emerging and well-promising approach. Polymer-coated nanoparticles (PNPs) were synthesized through the free radical polymerization (FRP) of the monomers 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPSA) and dodecyl methacrylate (DMA) on the surface of acrylic-modified spherical silica nanoparticles. The obtained PNPs were characterized using Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Dispersions of PNPs were prepared in salt (NaCl, CaCl 2 ) aqueous solutions, the static oil/water interfacial tension were measured using the Du Nouy ring method, and changes caused based on the oil/water contact angle were recorded optically. The PNP dispersions were used to stabilize and characterize shear-thinning oil-in-water Pickering emulsions. The capacity of the PNP dispersions and Pickering emulsions to mobilize the trapped ganglia of viscous paraffin oil, which remained after successive tests of drainage and primary imbibition, was tested with visualization experiments of the secondary imbibition in a transparent glass-etched pore network. The synthesized SiO 2 -P(AMPSA-co-DMA) nanoparticles were stable even at high temperatures (~200–250 °C) and displayed excellent stability in aqueous dispersions at high ionic strengths with the presence of divalent cations, and their dispersions generated stable oil-in-water Pickering emulsions with a shear-thinning viscosity. The oil-recovery efficiency is maximized when the most viscous Pickering emulsion is selected, but if energy cost factors are also taken into account, then the less viscous Pickering emulsion is preferable.

Keywords: AMPSA; polymer-coated nanoparticles; enhanced oil recovery; Pickering emulsion; immiscible displacement (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: 2023
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