Investigation of Optimizing the Foam Stability Performance by Using Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Physical Model

During gas injection, surfactants have been sometimes added to the aqueous phase in order to generate foam and to increase the viscosity for decrease the mobility ratio and improving thevolumetric sweep efficiency of the foam. There is a critical weakness in ability of surfactant to stabilize foams for a long period of time in high salinity and high temperature environments. The tailored Nanoparticle dispersions are able to stabilize foams at harsh conditions i.e. high salinity andhigh temperature that may destabilize the surfactant-foams. In this research work, experiments wereconducted to test the emulsion phase behavior and the effects of nanoparticle concentration, to increase the displacement efficiency of oil. The created foam by the nanoparticles, exhibited increase between five to ten times in resistance of flow compared to the two fluids flowing withoutnanoparticles i.e. surfactant and foam. The main finding of this study is to improve the performance of the surfactant-stabilized foams, by developing foams that are stabilized with nanoparticles. Silica nanoparticles were used to generate foams that have long-term stability

Keywords:

Nanoparticle aqueous , surfactant , salinity , foam