Enhancement of surfactant flooding performance by the use of silica nanoparticles

One of the most significant current discussions in petroleum industry is the use of nanotechnology to improve oil recovery. The aim of this study is the implication of silica nanoparticles in combination with anionic surfactant to see if the surfactant properties are influenced in the presence of nanoparticles and to investigate the capability of these particles to enhance oil recovery. Extensive series of interfacial tension and adsorption measurement experiments were performed. It was observed that surfactant adsorption amount was mostly reduced when mixed with nanoparticles. Interfacial tension measurements revealed strange behavior in low and high surfactant concentrations. The optimum conditions for various scenarios of surfactant flooding were selected upon various experimental results. The flooding experiments showed that nanoparticles could efficiently improve surfactant performance by enhancing the governing mechanisms and the oil recovery was consequently increased by a considerable amount.