Polyelectrolyte–nanocomposite for enhanced oil recovery: influence of nanoparticle on rheology, oil recovery and formation damage

Abstract

AbstractGum arabic (GA) capacity as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) agent is studied and compared to the commonly applied xanthan gum (XG). FTIR and TGA characterisation of these two polyelectrolytes and a rheology study by viscosity measurement was conducted on their polymeric and nano-polymeric solution at varying concentrations of the polymers and nanoparticles (NP). Coreflooding experiments were conducted based on a sequence of waterflooding and three slugs of increasing concentration of polymeric (and nano-polymeric) solutions to evaluate EOR performance. Results show similar rheology and oil recovery for 1.0 wt% GA and a 0.1 wt% XG polymeric solution. And the viscosity of GA tends to be Newtonian at a relatively high shear rate. The magnitude of incremental oil recovery of the first slug is independent of the GA concentration but significant for XG. However, the impact of nano-polymeric solution on oil recovery is higher than the polymeric solution. The increase in NP concentration played a vital role in oil recovery, thereby connoting the significance of IFT, contact angle, and its associated mechanisms for EOR. And FTIR affirms that the hydroxyl group in XG is less than GA, thus responsible for adsorption of GA compared to XG.