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    Synergy of surface modified nanoparticles and surfactant in wettability alteration of calcite at high salinity and temperature

    Year: 2023

    Journal: Fuel, Volume 331, 2023-01-01, page 125752

    Authors: Tang, Wenyue; Wu, Pingkeng; Da, Chang; Alzobaidi, Shehab; Harris, Justin; Hallaman, Brooke; Hu, Dongdong; Johnston, Keith P.

    Keywords: Wettability alteration; Surfactant; Colloidal stability; Silica nanoparticles; Surface chemical modification

    The surface of silica nanoparticles (NPs) was modified by chemical grafting of ligands to: (1) achieve colloidal stability in concentrated brine at salinities up to 25.7 % total dissolved solids (TDS) and temperatures up to 90 °C and (2) change the wettability of carbonate reservoirs from oil-wet to water-wet. The ligand precursors included low molecular weight cationic N-trimethoxysilylpropyl-N, N, N-trimethylammonium chloride or nonionic 3-glycidyloxypropyl trimethoxysilane. The water-phase contact angle θw of a crude oil droplet on calcite was measured for binary mixtures of the modified NPs combined with different types of surfactants, for a heavy and a light crude oil. For two types of reservoir conditions (16.7 % TDS at 55 °C and 25.7 % TDS at 90 °C), positively charged NPs with quaternary nitrogens (QNP) at 1 wt% altered the wettability of the calcite surface from strongly oil-wet (θw = 125° to 159°) to intermediate wet with a θw = 69° to 85° for light crude oil and θw = 71° to 107° for heavy crude oil. Meanwhile, cationic surfactants tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) at 1 wt% altered the wettability to water-wet with a θw = 41° to 59° for light crude oil and θw = 70° to 90° for heavy crude oil. Synergy between the QNP and TTAB was observed in lowering the θw by another 10°. The reduced θw is beneficial for secondary oil recovery from carbonates, along with a significant decrease in the viscoelasticity of the crude oil-brine interface that helps destabilize undesirable water-in-crude oil emulsions.
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