Core flooding experiment was carried out through SiO2 nanofluid, which was used to change the surface properties of the pore walls, improve the attractive force between fines and pores walls against the hydrodynamic repulsive force in order to increase the critical velocity and injection rate and control fines migration. Injecting SiO2 nanoparticles has the great potential to control fines migration during water injection, which means that the higher fluid production/injection rate can be designed. The flooding test results indicated that SiO2 nanofluid with mass fraction of 0.1% showed the best performance and reduced the migration of fines by 80%. Increasing the salinity of the injection fluid had no effect on the nanofluid performance in controlling the fines migration. Measurement of the Zeta potential of the core surface showed that the SiO2 nanofluid did not change the Zeta potential of the pore walls due to the negative charge of SiO2 nanoparticles. AFM (Atomic Force Microscope) analysis proved that the SiO2 nanofluid increased the roughness of the pore walls was the main mechanism controlling fines migration and more hydrodynamic force was needed for fines movement in the porous medium. Also, for all the experiments, the total applied forces and torques on the fine particles were calculated. The theoretical results were in good agreement with the experiments, which proved that the fines migrated by rolling mechanism mainly.
HASANNEJADA Reza, POURAFSHARY Peyman, VATANI Ali, SAMENI Abdolhamid
. Application of silica nanofluid to control initiation of fines migration[J]. Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2017
, 44(5)
: 802
-810
.
DOI: 10.11698/PED.2017.05.16
[1] CIVAN F. Reservoir formation damage: Fundamentals, modeling, assessment, and mitigation[M]. Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing Company, 2000.
[2] KHILAR K C, FOGLER H S. Migration of fines in porous media[M]. Dordecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998.
[3] MUECKE T W. Formation fines and factors controlling their movement in porous media[J]. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 1979, 31(2): 144-150.
[4] MUNGAN N. Permeability reduction through changes in pH and salinity[J]. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 1965, 17(12): 1449-1453.
[5] KHILAR K C, FOGLER H S. The existence of a critical salt concentration for particle release[J]. Journal of Colloid & Interface Science, 1984, 101(1): 214-224.
[6] VALDYA R N, FOGLER H S. Fines migration and formation damage: Influence of pH and ion exchange[J]. SPE Production Engineering, 1992, 7(7): 325-330.
[7] KIA S F, FOGLER H S, REED M G, et al. Effect of pH on colloidally induced fines migration[J]. Journal of Colloid & Interface Science, 1987, 118(1): 158-168.
[8] MUSHAROVA D, MOHAMED I M, NASR-EL-DIN H A. Detrimental effect of temperature on fines migration in sandstone formations[R]. SPE 150953-MS, 2012.
[9] SCHEMBRE J M, KOVSCEK A R. Mechanism of formation damage at elevated temperature[J]. Journal of Energy Resources Technology, 2005, 127(3): 171-180.
[10] CERDA C M. Mobilization of kaolinite fines in porous media[J]. Colloids & Surfaces, 1987, 27(4): 219-241.
[11] HASSENKAM T, MITCHELL A C, PEDERSEN C S, et al. The low salinity effect observed on sandstone model surfaces[J]. Colloids & Surfaces A: Pysicochemical & Engineering Aspects, 2012, 403: 79-86.
[12] SHIRATORI K, YAMASHITA Y, ADACHI Y. Deposition and subsequent release of Na-kaolinite particles by adjusting pH in the column packed with Toyoura sand[J]. Colloids & Surfaces A: Pysicochemical & Engineering Aspects, 2007, 36(3): 137-141.
[13] NOCITO-GOBEL J, TOBIASON J. Effects of ionic strength on colloid deposition and release[J]. Colloids & Surfaces A: Pysicochemical & Engineering Aspects, 1996, 107(4): 223-231.
[14] GRUESBECK C, COLLINS R E. Entrainment and deposition of fine particles in porous media[J]. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 1982, 22(6): 847-856.
[15] ESPINOZA D A, CALDELAS F M, JOHNSTON K P, et al. Nanoparticle-stabilized supercritical CO 2 foams for potential mobility control applications[R]. SPE 129925-MS, 2010.
[16] SHOKRLU Y H, BABADAGLI T. Effects of nano-sized metals on viscosity reduction of heavy oil/bitumen during thermal applications[R]. SPE 137540-MS, 2010.
[17] NASSAR N N. Asphaltene adsorption onto alumina nanoparticles: Kinetics and thermodynamic studies[J]. Energy & Fuels, 2010, 24(8): 4116-4122.
[18] PIN E R, ROBERTS M, YU H, et al. Enhanced migration of surface-treated nanoparticles in sedimentary rocks[R]. SPE 124418-MS, 2009.
[19] VILLAMIZAR L C, LOHATEERAPARP P, HARWELL J H, et al. Interfacially active SWNT/silica nanohybrid used in enhanced oil recovery[R]. SPE 129901-MS, 2010.
[20] HUANG T, CREWS J B, WILLINGHAM J R. Using nanoparticle technology to control fine migration[R]. SPE 115384-MS, 2008.
[21] AHMADI M, HABIBI A, POURAFSHARI P, et al. Zeta potential investigation and mathematical modeling of nanoparticles deposited on the rock surface to reduce fine migration[R]. SPE 142633-MS, 2011.
[22] HABIBI A, AHMADI M, POURAFSHARY P. Fines migration control in sandstone formation by improving silica surface Zeta potential using a nanoparticle coating process[J]. Energy Sources, 2014, 36(21): 2376-2382.
[23] HABIBI A, POURAFSHARI P, AHMADI M, et al. Reduction of fine migration by nanofluids injection: An experimental study[R]. SPE 144196-PA, 2011.
[24] ARAB D, POURAFSHARY P, AYATOLLAHI S, et al. Remediation of colloid-facilitated contaminant transport in saturated porous media treated by nanoparticles[J]. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 2014, 11(1): 207-216.
[25] ARAB D, POURAFSHARY P. Nanoparticles-assisted surface charge modification of the porous medium to treat colloidal particles migration induced by low salinity water flooding[J]. Colloids & Surfaces A: Pysicochemical & Engineering Aspects, 2013, 436: 803-814.
[26] ARAB D, POURAFSHARY P, AYATOLLAHI S. Mathematical modeling of colloidal particles transport in the medium treated by nanofluids: Deep bed filtration approach[J]. Transport in Porous Media, 2014, 103(3): 401-419.
[27] ASSEF Y, ARAB D, POURAFSHARY P. Application of nanofluid to control fines migration to improve the performance of low salinity water flooding and alkaline flooding[J]. Journal of Petroleum Science & Engineering, 2014, 124: 331-340.
[28] TIEN C, RAMARAO B V. Granular filtration of aerosols and hydrosols[J]. Elsevier Science and Technology, 1990, 45(9): 3011-3012.
[29] ISRAELACHVILI J N. Intermolecular and surface forces[M]. 3rd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2011: 205-222.
[30] KHILAR K C, VAIDYA R N, FOGLER H S. Colloidally-induced fines release in porous media[J]. Journal of Petroleum Science & Engineering, 1990, 4(3): 213-221.
