TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving the stability of nitrogen foams using silica nanoparticles coated with polyethylene glycol
AU - Hurtado, Yira
AU - Franco, Camilo A.
AU - Riazi, Masoud
AU - Cortés, Farid B.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge to Fondo Nacional De Financiamiento Para La Ciencia, La Tecnología Y La Innovación “Francisco José De Caldas”, Agencia Nacional De Hidrocarburos and COLCIENCIAS for their support provided in Agreement 272 of 2017. We would also like to recognize the Universidad Nacional de Colombia for logistical and financial support and Eng. Sergio Avila for his collaboration carrying out laboratory tests.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge to Fondo Nacional De Financiamiento Para La Ciencia, La Tecnología Y La Innovación “Francisco José De Caldas” , Agencia Nacional De Hidrocarburos and COLCIENCIAS for their support provided in Agreement 272 of 2017. We would also like to recognize the Universidad Nacional de Colombia for logistical and financial support and Eng. Sergio Avila for his collaboration carrying out laboratory tests.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/2/15
Y1 - 2020/2/15
N2 - To meet the growing global energy demand, it is necessary to use enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods to produce fuel from unconventional oil fields. The injection of steam combined with foams as a divergent fluid is one of the techniques proposed as an alternative to improve the production efficiency of heavy and extra heavy oil reservoirs. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to optimize foam stability. This work proposes a technique to improve foam stability using polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated silica nanoparticles as an additive, which in synergy with a surfactant provide a structural reinforcement of the bubbles to increase their half-life time and durability. For this purpose, four silica nanoparticles with different amounts of surface coating material (i.e. polyethylene glycol) were synthesized by the sol gel method in order to modify their chemical and physical properties. Then, the nanoparticles were characterized to determine properties such as size, point of zero charge, and chemical composition. Nanofluids were obtained by mixing of surfactant solution and nanoparticles. Their corresponding aggregate size and zeta potential were experimentally determined. Subsequently, nanofluids were tested and it was found an increase in the durability of the foam up to 67%. Additionally, adsorption tests were performed to analyze the interactions between nanoparticles and fluids. Moreover, apparent viscosity and the morphologies of the foams were analyzed through microscopic observation of the bubbles to determine changes in their structure. The results show that the diffusion of gas slows down in the presence of nanoparticles and the liquid films between bubbles also become thicker. In summary, the results show that the functionalized nanoparticles could increase the quality of nitrogen foam.
AB - To meet the growing global energy demand, it is necessary to use enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods to produce fuel from unconventional oil fields. The injection of steam combined with foams as a divergent fluid is one of the techniques proposed as an alternative to improve the production efficiency of heavy and extra heavy oil reservoirs. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to optimize foam stability. This work proposes a technique to improve foam stability using polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated silica nanoparticles as an additive, which in synergy with a surfactant provide a structural reinforcement of the bubbles to increase their half-life time and durability. For this purpose, four silica nanoparticles with different amounts of surface coating material (i.e. polyethylene glycol) were synthesized by the sol gel method in order to modify their chemical and physical properties. Then, the nanoparticles were characterized to determine properties such as size, point of zero charge, and chemical composition. Nanofluids were obtained by mixing of surfactant solution and nanoparticles. Their corresponding aggregate size and zeta potential were experimentally determined. Subsequently, nanofluids were tested and it was found an increase in the durability of the foam up to 67%. Additionally, adsorption tests were performed to analyze the interactions between nanoparticles and fluids. Moreover, apparent viscosity and the morphologies of the foams were analyzed through microscopic observation of the bubbles to determine changes in their structure. The results show that the diffusion of gas slows down in the presence of nanoparticles and the liquid films between bubbles also become thicker. In summary, the results show that the functionalized nanoparticles could increase the quality of nitrogen foam.
KW - Apparent viscosity
KW - EOR
KW - Nanoparticles
KW - Nanoparticles wettability
KW - Nitrogen foam stability
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U2 - 10.1016/j.molliq.2019.112256
DO - 10.1016/j.molliq.2019.112256
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85076243172
SN - 0167-7322
VL - 300
JO - Journal of Molecular Liquids
JF - Journal of Molecular Liquids
M1 - 112256
ER -