Nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application

Various enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods have been studied intensively and proven to mobilize, and aid in improving the flow of remaining oil in the reservoirs to producing wells, thus leading to better oil recoveries. Gases have been commonly used in EOR, such as natural gas, carbon dioxide (CO2...

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Main Author: Tan, Xin Kun
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2017
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Online Access:http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/77954/1/TanXinKunMFChE20171.pdf
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Institution: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
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spelling my.utm.779542018-07-18T07:38:12Z http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/77954/ Nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application Tan, Xin Kun TP Chemical technology Various enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods have been studied intensively and proven to mobilize, and aid in improving the flow of remaining oil in the reservoirs to producing wells, thus leading to better oil recoveries. Gases have been commonly used in EOR, such as natural gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrogen while CO2 is the most commonly used gas. Foam flooding has started to gain more interests in the field for its promising gas mobility reduction. However, foam generated with surfactant suffers instability under harsh reservoir condition, such as high pressure, high temperature and high salinity. Nanoparticle has then come into play for the role to stabilise foam and several studies on the subject have shown favourable results. Nevertheless, nanoparticle-stabilised foam requires more studies and understanding. This thesis involved the study of nanoparticle-stabilised supercritical CO2 foam in the presence of surfactant. Foams with different formulations (supercritical CO2, brine, surfactant and nanoparticles) were generated using a customised glass-bead packed column (GBPC) under 1,500 psi pressure, 25 °C, and a constant flow rate of 6 ml/min. The effect of different nanoparticle concentrations (0%, 0.1%, 0.5%, 0.6% and 1%) and brine salinities (0%, 0.5%, 2% and 10%) on foam are of the key objectives of the study and were both tested. Foam stability and foam mobility tests were carried out quantitatively and qualitatively. Pressure difference valued across the GBPC were recorded. Foam structures and formations were monitored using a camera to capture the images every three minutes throughout the duration of 60 minutes. Nanoparticle-stabilised supercritical CO2 foam successfully shows significant improvement on foam stability over surfactant foam by 27% as well as slight improvement on foam mobility reduction. Nanoparticle-stabilised foam stability in the presence of oil was also tested. Sodium dodecyl sulfate surfactant foam stabilised with 1.0 wt% nanoparticle concentration shows superior foam stability in the presence of oil. 2017-08 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/77954/1/TanXinKunMFChE20171.pdf Tan, Xin Kun (2017) Nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application. Masters thesis, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering. http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:105154
institution Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
building UTM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
content_source UTM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://eprints.utm.my/
language English
topic TP Chemical technology
spellingShingle TP Chemical technology
Tan, Xin Kun
Nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application
description Various enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods have been studied intensively and proven to mobilize, and aid in improving the flow of remaining oil in the reservoirs to producing wells, thus leading to better oil recoveries. Gases have been commonly used in EOR, such as natural gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrogen while CO2 is the most commonly used gas. Foam flooding has started to gain more interests in the field for its promising gas mobility reduction. However, foam generated with surfactant suffers instability under harsh reservoir condition, such as high pressure, high temperature and high salinity. Nanoparticle has then come into play for the role to stabilise foam and several studies on the subject have shown favourable results. Nevertheless, nanoparticle-stabilised foam requires more studies and understanding. This thesis involved the study of nanoparticle-stabilised supercritical CO2 foam in the presence of surfactant. Foams with different formulations (supercritical CO2, brine, surfactant and nanoparticles) were generated using a customised glass-bead packed column (GBPC) under 1,500 psi pressure, 25 °C, and a constant flow rate of 6 ml/min. The effect of different nanoparticle concentrations (0%, 0.1%, 0.5%, 0.6% and 1%) and brine salinities (0%, 0.5%, 2% and 10%) on foam are of the key objectives of the study and were both tested. Foam stability and foam mobility tests were carried out quantitatively and qualitatively. Pressure difference valued across the GBPC were recorded. Foam structures and formations were monitored using a camera to capture the images every three minutes throughout the duration of 60 minutes. Nanoparticle-stabilised supercritical CO2 foam successfully shows significant improvement on foam stability over surfactant foam by 27% as well as slight improvement on foam mobility reduction. Nanoparticle-stabilised foam stability in the presence of oil was also tested. Sodium dodecyl sulfate surfactant foam stabilised with 1.0 wt% nanoparticle concentration shows superior foam stability in the presence of oil.
format Thesis
author Tan, Xin Kun
author_facet Tan, Xin Kun
author_sort Tan, Xin Kun
title Nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application
title_short Nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application
title_full Nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application
title_fullStr Nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application
title_full_unstemmed Nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application
title_sort nanosilica-stabilised supercritical carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery application
publishDate 2017
url http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/77954/1/TanXinKunMFChE20171.pdf
http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/77954/
http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:105154
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