Yejing Gong
China University of Petroleum, China
Title: Synergic effect of silica nanoparticle and hydrophobically modified polymer on emulsifying heavy oil for enhanced heavy oil recovery
Biography
Biography: Yejing Gong
Abstract
Recent studies have revealed that nanoparticles can alter the viscosity and rheology of polymer aqueous solutions, thus improving the displacement of crude oil. Here, we present our work on the synergistic effect of nano-SiO2 and a novel hydrophobically modified polymer (HMP), namely, HMP–fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether (AEO15), on enhancing heavy oil recovery. In this work, the effect of nano-SiO2 on the rheological property of the HMP–AEO15 aqueous solution was studied. Then, the emulsification effect of the single HMP–AEO15 and HMP–AEO15+SiO2 composite on heavy oil were evaluated from different items. A micromodel was further utilised to investigate the efficiency of the single and composite solutions in heavy oil displacement. Results showed that the addition of nano-SiO2 could improve the viscosity, temperature and shear resistance of the HMP–AEO15 aqueous solution. The composite could simultaneously reduce interfacial tension and increase interfacial viscoelasticity between the oil and water phases. The heavy oil emulsion prepared with the HMP–AEO15+SiO2 composite had a narrower size distribution and better stability than that prepared with the single HMP–AEO15+SiO2 solution. Heavy oil recovery in the different parts of the micromodel after composite flooding increased by 5.98%–16.95% relative to that after single HMP–AEO15 flooding. This work proved that the HMP–AEO15+SiO2 composite has great potential for application in enhancing heavy oil recovery.