Application of Nanoparticles-Based Technologies in the Oil …
271
from 2700 to 1900 mPa at a concentration of 500 ppm of NPs (Shokrlu and Babadagli
2011). Same was observed during a number of experiments such as by Clarke et al.
during the use of metal NPs during aquathermolysis process (Clark et al. 1990; Clark
and Hyne 1990).
4 A Laboratory Evaluation of Nanoparticle-Assisted
Polymer Flooding
Rellegadla et al. had demonstrated a new method of EOR with the help of a combination of nanoparticle and polymer flooding (Rellegadla et al. 2018). They had shown
when a mixture of nickel nanoparticles along with the xanthan gum is injected in
the sand packed columns the amount of additional oil recovered increases. They had
calculated the amount of additional oil recovered in the effluents with the help of a
spectrophotometric method explained below.
Initially, they had prepared the standards by mixing parent oil to dichloromethane
(DCM) (1:10 ratio). Then a known volume of parent oil–DCM standard mix was
poured into a separatory funnel containing 30 ml of deionized water. This oil–water
mixture was then extracted with 5 ml volumes of DCM. The separatory funnel was
vigorously shaken for few seconds and was then allowed to stand for few minutes to
allow phase separation after which the oil was extracted. This extraction procedure
was again followed using a total of three portions of DCM. Lastly, the final DCM
volume for the whole extracts was made up to a total volume of 20 ml with DCM.
The authors had prepared standard dilutions from the stock solution by adding a
known volume of DCM to parent oil. The absorbance for the standard solutions was
measured and a standard curve was plotted. Later the amount of oil produced from
the bioreactor during flooding experiment was measured by adding a known amount
of DCM (VDCM) to the measured volume of water (V H2O ) and then the volume of
oil (V oil ) was determined from the optical density at 600 nm (OD 600 ) of the oil–DCM
phase to derive the concentration of oil (C oil ) in mg/ml; OD 600 was determined using
a spectrophotometer. V oil was then calculated as (V oil = C oil × VDCM/ρ oil ), where
ρ oil is the density of Ankleshwar oil.
Enhanced oil recovery efficiency of this injection mixture was evaluated in sand
packed bioreactors with ~0.6 PV of residual oil in place (ROIP). Flooding results
had shown the highest recovery of 5.98% of additional ROIP with xanthan–nickel
nanoparticle mixture compared to 4.48 and 4.58% of ROIP during sole injection of
xanthan and nanoparticles, respectively.
271
from 2700 to 1900 mPa at a concentration of 500 ppm of NPs (Shokrlu and Babadagli
2011). Same was observed during a number of experiments such as by Clarke et al.
during the use of metal NPs during aquathermolysis process (Clark et al. 1990; Clark
and Hyne 1990).
4 A Laboratory Evaluation of Nanoparticle-Assisted
Polymer Flooding
Rellegadla et al. had demonstrated a new method of EOR with the help of a combination of nanoparticle and polymer flooding (Rellegadla et al. 2018). They had shown
when a mixture of nickel nanoparticles along with the xanthan gum is injected in
the sand packed columns the amount of additional oil recovered increases. They had
calculated the amount of additional oil recovered in the effluents with the help of a
spectrophotometric method explained below.
Initially, they had prepared the standards by mixing parent oil to dichloromethane
(DCM) (1:10 ratio). Then a known volume of parent oil–DCM standard mix was
poured into a separatory funnel containing 30 ml of deionized water. This oil–water
mixture was then extracted with 5 ml volumes of DCM. The separatory funnel was
vigorously shaken for few seconds and was then allowed to stand for few minutes to
allow phase separation after which the oil was extracted. This extraction procedure
was again followed using a total of three portions of DCM. Lastly, the final DCM
volume for the whole extracts was made up to a total volume of 20 ml with DCM.
The authors had prepared standard dilutions from the stock solution by adding a
known volume of DCM to parent oil. The absorbance for the standard solutions was
measured and a standard curve was plotted. Later the amount of oil produced from
the bioreactor during flooding experiment was measured by adding a known amount
of DCM (VDCM) to the measured volume of water (V H2O ) and then the volume of
oil (V oil ) was determined from the optical density at 600 nm (OD 600 ) of the oil–DCM
phase to derive the concentration of oil (C oil ) in mg/ml; OD 600 was determined using
a spectrophotometer. V oil was then calculated as (V oil = C oil × VDCM/ρ oil ), where
ρ oil is the density of Ankleshwar oil.
Enhanced oil recovery efficiency of this injection mixture was evaluated in sand
packed bioreactors with ~0.6 PV of residual oil in place (ROIP). Flooding results
had shown the highest recovery of 5.98% of additional ROIP with xanthan–nickel
nanoparticle mixture compared to 4.48 and 4.58% of ROIP during sole injection of
xanthan and nanoparticles, respectively.
