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Article · The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering · September 29, 2016

Effects of Nanoparticles on Gas Production, Viscosity Reduction, and Foam Formation during Nanofluid Alternating Gas Injection in Low and High Permeable Carbonate Reservoirs

Babak Moradi, Peyman Pourafshary, Farahani Jalali, Mohsen Mohammadi

Peyman Pourafshary
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Abstract

Abstract Some carbonate reservoirs are low‐permeable and mixed‐wet to oil‐wet. Application of enhanced recovery methods to decrease residual oil saturation is the main challenge in such reservoirs. Water‐flooding is not an appropriate method to improve the recovery due to the wettability of carbonate reservoirs. Water alternating gas (WAG) injection is used as another method but it faces some problems. To enhance the performance of the WAG method, the wettability of rock should be changed and mobility of the injected gas should be controlled. In our previous study (Moradi et al.[32]), to improve the WAG‐EOR process and overcome the problems, we developed the nanofluid‐alternating gas (NWAG) approach by adding nanoparticles to the aqueous phase. Our study indicated that the NWAG process could improve oil recovery in comparison to the conventional WAG method in different core samples with different lithology and permeability. In this study, core‐flooding experiments, dynamic foam generation, and viscosity measurement were performed to investigate the effect of nanoparticles on gas production, viscosity reduction, and possibility of foam formation in the NWAG process. The results indicated that the gas production was decreased in the NWAG process. In addition, viscosity of produced oil was lower in the NWAG process; CO2 dissolved in the oil and led to oil swelling and oil viscosity reduction. Oil recovery was higher in the samples with lower permeability due to the formation of foam in the porous media. Foam formation increased viscosity and controlled mobility, which led to better sweep efficiency.

Enhanced Oil Recovery TechniquesHydraulic Fracturing and Reservoir AnalysisCO2 Sequestration and Geologic Interactionswater alternating gasenhanced oil recoverycarbonate reservoirs

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