An experimental investigation of the enhanced oil recovery and improved performance of drilling fluids using titanium dioxide and fumed silica nanoparticles

Abstract

Nanotechnology has contributed to the technological advances in various industrial biomaterials and renewable energy production over the last decade. Recently, a renewed interest arises in the application of nanotechnology for the upstream petroleum industry such as exploration, drilling and production. In particular, the adding of nanoparticles to injection fluids may drastically benefit enhanced oil recovery, such as changing the properties of the fluid, wettability alternation of rocks, advanced drag reduction, strengthening sand consolidation, reducing the interfacial tension and increasing the mobility of the capillary-trapped oil. The feasibility of these methods depends on many factors such as flow mechanisms in porous media and porous medium properties at microscopic and macroscopic scales. Previous studies have indicated that the oil recovery from porous media may be substantially increased by the injection of miscible fluids. This all sounds great and waterflooding has been used successfully for decades; however, it is important to carefully design and appropriately operate the waterflood. Using nanoparticles in all samples has resulted in recovery increase. Among these applications of the study is nanoenhanced oil recovery which can be applied in many water-wet reservoirs dominated by inhibition mechanism to extract more fluid through really small caliber pores. In these experiments, two nanoparticles dissolved in water are injected into simulated environment, and also, the effect of these nanoparticles in water-base drilling typical fluid have been investigated. Using nanoparticles in all samples has resulted in recovery increase. Finally, considering the experiments, it is demonstrated that flows with nanoparticles and, in particular, titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles have the highest amount of recovery factors and thus using nanoparticles in waterflooding projects and even some in polymer flooding ones. Also, results of the other tests, regarding each typical drilling costs of each foot and importance of time in the operation, it is possible to replace technically and economically the ordinary addition (here, the widely used sodium hydroxide) with fumed silica nanoparticles in drilling fluid to prevent cement contamination of the drilling fluid. The advantages of nano-TiO₂ are possessing suitable thermal transition qualities in the drilling fluid.