Sharif Digital Repository

The diffusion and deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles in EOR application was investigated in this paper. TEM image of nanoparticles showed that the particles are elongated with average long and short axis sizes of 54 and 15 nm. Water flooding tests showed that the recovery factor can be improved from 49% to 80% using TiO2 nanoparticles. Viscosity and interfacial tension measurements showed that by using TiO2 nanoparticles the viscosity of injected fluid and interfacial tension do not change significantly and can not explain the change in recovery factor. Contact angle measurements showed that nanoparticles deposition changed the wettability of the rock surface from oil-wet to water-wet. SEM... 

A literature review of laboratory and field scale studies on low salinity water (LSW) injection showed that the salinity and composition of injected water can have a significant impact on oil recovery. Historically, extensive research has been completed to understand the mechanisms and factors affecting LSW injection. However, although numerous mechanisms have been proposed to describe the interactions in the target process, none have been widely accepted. In this study, waterflooding tests were used to investigate the advantages, disadvantages, and effect of LSW injection. In laboratory tests, two different brines and crude oil of one of Iran's southern reservoirs were used to assess the... 

This work concerns with experimental investigation of CO2 WAG injection to light crude oil in near miscible conditions which has been rarely attended in the available literature. Here, several core flood experiments at three constant injection rates and four WAG ratios are conducted on sandstone rocks saturated with light crude oil in presence of saline water. The results showed that higher injection rate has a better performance regarding oil recovery for smaller PVs of injected fluids, while lower injection rate showed higher ultimate recovery for a 30% increase in injected PVs. Secondary continuous gas injection showed a superior performance than all the other WAG injections in different... 

One of the significant problems of the upstream flow assurance community is precipitation or deposition of asphaltene that leads to affect the economics of oil production seriously. Knowledge of asphaltene onset pressure (AOP) and amount of asphaltene precipitation in the change of temperature, pressure, and composition is the essential information for preventing this problem. Recent studies have shown that thermodynamic models based on the solubility nature of asphaltenes using an equation of state (EOS) are the most effective approach to asphaltene behavior modeling. In this research, the common version of the SAFT equation, known as the Perturbed Chain form of Statistical Association... 

It is well known that the displacement efficiency of EOR processes is mainly affected by wettability of porous medium; however, the role of nanoparticles on wettability alteration of pores surfaces remains a topic of debate in the literature. Furthermore, a little is known about how the dispersed silica nanoparticles affect the microscopic/macroscopic recovery efficiency of heavy oils during common immiscible EOR processes such as water flooding. In this study, a series of injection experiments was performed on five-spot glass micromodel which is initially saturated with the heavy oil. Distilled water and dispersed silica nanoparticles in water (DSNW) at different values of weight percent... 

Most of the heavy oil reservoirs contain discontinuous shale which affects fluid flow through porous media as well as recovery efficiency during enhanced oil recovery processes. However, the role of shale geometrical characteristics (including orientation, length, discontinuity, and spacing of the shale) on oil recovery remains a topic of debate in the literature, especially during miscible injection of heavy oils and five-spot systems. Here, a series of hydrocarbon solvent injection tests have been performed on various five-spot glass micromodels containing barriers which are initially saturated with heavy oil under fixed flow rate conditions. Oil recoveries as a function of pore volumes of... 

The objective of this study was to experimentally investigate the performance of water-alternating gas (WAG) injection in one of Iran's oil reservoirs that encountered a severe pressure drop in recent years. Because one of the most appropriate studies to evaluate the reservoir occurs generally on rock cores taken from the reservoir, core samples drilled out of the reservoir's rock matrix were used for alternating injection of water and gas. In the experiments, the fluid system consisted of reservoir dead oil, live oil, Co 2, and synthetic brine; the porous media were a number of carbonate cores chosen from the oilfield from which the oil samples had been taken. All coreflood experiments were... 

It is well known that the displacement efficiency of EOR processes is mainly affected by wettability of porous medium; however, the role of nanoparticles on wettability alteration of pores surfaces remains a topic of debate in the literature. Furthermore, a little is known about how the dispersed silica nanoparticles affect the microscopic/macroscopic recovery efficiency of heavy oils during common immiscible EOR processes such as water flooding. In this study, a series of injection experiments was performed on five-spot glass micromodel which is initially saturated with the heavy oil. Distilled water and dispersed silica nanoparticles in water (DSNW) at different values of weight percent... 

It is well known that the oil recovery is affected by wettability of porous medium; however, the role of nanoparticles on wettability alteration of medium surfaces has remained a topic of debate in the literature. Furthermore, there is a little information of the way dispersed silica nanoparticles affect the oil recovery efficiency during polymer flooding, especially, when heavy oil is used. In this study, a series of injection experiments were performed in a five-spot glass micromodel after saturation with the heavy oil. Polyacrylamide solution and dispersed silica nanoparticles in polyacrylamide (DSNP) solution were used as injected fluids. The oil recovery as well as fluid distribution in... 

Many heavy oil reservoirs contain discontinuous shales which act as barriers or baffles to flow. However, there is a lack of fundamental understanding about how the shale geometrical characteristics affect the reservoir performance, especially during polymer flooding of heavy oils. In this study, a series of polymer injection processes have been performed on five-spot glass micromodels with different shale geometrical characteristics that are initially saturated with the heavy oil. The available geological characteristics from one of the Iranian oilfields were considered for the construction of the flow patterns by using a controlled-laser technology. Oil recoveries as a function of pore...