Alteration wettability of carbonate rocks by Nano fluids and comparison with PEG and SDS

Abstract

This work was conducted to study limestone rock wettability alteration to enhance oilrecovery by flooding using different Nano silica (NS) sizes suspended in saline water andcompared with flooding solution of polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) surfactant, the stability of nanofluids measured by zeta potential. In theflooding system, the secondary recovery by silica nanofluids (0.01 wt. % NS concentration)achieved an oil recovery of 35vol. % and 26.08 vol. % for 10, 52 nm after primary recoveryrespectively, while PEG polymer and SDS surfactant achieved oil recovery of 5 vol. % and10 vol. % only respectively. The stability of pressure difference approved that silicananoparticle never causes any plug or damage for the carbonate rocks.