Mohammad Zargartalebi - Petroleum University of Technology, Ahwaz Faculty of Petroleum Engineering Ahwaz, Khuzestan, Iran
Riyaz Kharrat
Nasim Barati

This paper is aimed at studying AEROSIL® R816 nanoparticles interfacial and rheological behavior to see if it has enough feasibility to be used as a chemical agent in enhanced oil recovery. Interfacial tension measurements between aqueous nanoparticle solution and oil showed that AEROSIL® R816 was able to reduce the interfacial tension between water and oil to half of its original value. Viscosity measurements also showed that AEROSIL® R816 had a great ability in rheology modification of aqueous solutions. The solution viscosity was studied as a function of nanoparticle concentration and shear rate. It was seen that viscosity got higher as the nanoparticle concentration was increased. From the shear dependency point of view, two regions of shear thinning behavior were observed for different shear rate ranges. Finally, AEROSIL nanoparticles were added to aqueous solution of a low molecular weight polyacrylamide. In this way, the stability of AEROSIL solution was improved. This addition also resulted in almost considerable enhancement of polymer solution viscosity

Rheological Behavior, Nanoparticle, Interfacial Tension, Polymer, AEROSIL