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    Nanoparticle-enabled delivery of surfactants in porous media

    Year: 2018

    Journal: J. Colloid Interface Sci., Volume 519, JUN 1, page 44–57

    Authors: Nourafkan, Ehsan; Hu, Zhongliang; Wen, Dongsheng

    Organizations: European Research Council Consolidator Grant [648375]

    Keywords: Nanoparticles; Nanofluids; Controlled delivery; Surfactant adsorption; Enhanced oil recovery

    The adsorption of surfactants on the reservoir rocks surface is a serious issue in many energy and environment related areas. Learning from the concept of drug delivery in the nano-medicine field, this work proposes and validates the concept of using nanoparticles to deliver a mixture of surfactants into a porous medium. TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) are used as carriers for a blend of surfactants mixtures including anionic alkyl aryl sulfonic acid (AAS) and nonionic alcohol ethoxylated (EA) at the optimum salinity and composition conditions. The transport of NPs through a core sample of crushed sandstone grains and the adsorption of surfactants are evaluated. By using TiO2 NPs, the adsorption of surfactant molecules can be significantly reduced, i.e. half of the initial adsorption value. The level of surfactant adsorption reduction is related to the NPs transport capability through the porous medium. An application study shows that comparing to surfactant flooding alone, the total oil recovery can be increased by 7.81% of original oil in place (OOIP) by using nanoparticle bonded surfactants. Such work shows the promise of NP as an effective surfactant carrier for sandstone reservoirs, which could have many potential applications in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and environmental remediation. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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