Nanoparticle-Stabilized Emulsions for Applications in Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract

Abstract Nanoparticle-stabilized emulsions have attracted many researchers' attention in recent years due to many of their specific characteristics and advantages over conventional emulsions stabilized by surfactants or by colloidal particles. For example, the solid nanoparticles can be irreversibly attached to the oil-water interface and form a rigid nanoparticle monolayer on the droplet surfaces, which induce highly stable emulsions. Those emulsions can withstand harsh conditions. Compared to colloidal particles, nanoparticles are one hundred times smaller, and emulsions stabilized by them can travel a long distance in reservoirs without much retention. Oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions that are stabilized with different surface-coated silica nanoparticles of uniform size have been developed; these emulsions remain stable for several months without coalescence. The wettability of the nanoparticle determines the type of emulsion formed. The phase behavior with respect to the initial water/oil volume ratio (IVR), salinity, nanoparticle concentration and nanoparticle wettability was systematically examined. The emulsions were also characterized by measuring their droplet size and their apparent viscosity. Employing the hard-sphere liquid theory for nano-scale dispersions, the correlation between droplet/droplet interaction forces and droplet/droplet equilibrium separation distances has also been examined.