The potential applications in oil recovery with silica nanoparticle and polyvinyl alcohol stabilized emulsion

The effects of salt addition and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/nanoparticle concentration were also investigated in terms of emulsion stability and oil recovery. The salt addition (1 wt%) more efficiently stabilized the droplets without significant coalescence and contributed to approximately 4% more oil recovery than achieved in the absence of an emulsion system. The PVA/nanoparticle concentration indicated that the emulsion with a low concentration (0.05 wt%) of PVA and a high concentration (3 wt%) of nanoparticles had greater stability and enhanced oil recovery compared with the opposite (a high concentration (0.2 wt%) of PVA and low concentration (1 wt%) of nanoparticles). These results indicated that the addition of salt and PVA/nanoparticle concentration influenced oil recovery and emulsion stability. Oil recovery was related to emulsion stability.