Advancements in enhanced oil recovery with surface-modified silica nanoparticles: synthesis, mechanisms, and experimental insights

چکیده مقاله

Aqueous nanofluids containing nanoparticles offer a promising approach for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Experimental studies show that surface modification of nanoparticles, with suitable agents improves both oil recovery efficiency and stability under reservoir conditions.

This review comprehensively examines surface-modified silica nanoparticles (SM Si-NPs) applications in EOR, focusing on synthesis, characterization, EOR mechanisms, and flood tests. Literature analysis reveals that surface modification primarily enhances EOR by reducing interfacial tension, altering rock wettability towards more water-wet conditions, enhancing disjoining pressure and improving fluid rheology. Unlike previous reviews, this paper provides a detailed composition and procedure for preparing surface-modified Si-NPs, a comprehensive stability data table, and distinct tables for each EOR mechanism and flood test results, specifically focusing on SM Si-NPs. This allows a more rigorous comparative evaluation of SM Si-NPs. For example, ENORDET-coated Si-NPs can achieve a 39 % recovery factor (RF) compared to 32 % RF with bare Si-NPs, and modified Si-NPs with sulfonic acid polymer can achieve a 46 % reduction in interfacial tension with 0.7 wt% Si-NPs. While surface-modified Si-NPs generally outperform bare nanoparticles in EOR, core flood and micromodel tests show that they can sometimes reduce permeability; for example, hydrophilic surface-modified Si-NPs can decrease micromodel permeability by 72 %.

Finally, this review highlights the effectiveness of surface-modified Si-NPs in EOR and identifies key avenues for optimization to mitigate side effects and further enhance oil recovery.