Nanoparticle-Surfactant Stabilized CO2 Foam for Potential Mobility Control

The aim of this work is to study stability and mobility of modified nanoparticle-stabilized foam. Adding oppositely charged surfactant to the hydrophilic silica nanoparticle leads to variation in the hydrophobicity of nanoparticles. Surfactant’s adsorption on the nanoparticle’s surface is compared with different mixtures by a new criterion which is calculated by measuring conductivity. The adsorption criterion in domain of surfactant concentration has a maximum close to 1 CMC where nanoparticle reaches to maximum hydrophobicity. NPS-stabilized CO2 foam formed with simultaneous injection of CO2 and foam agent dispersion through a glass bead pack at reservoir pressure. Nanoparticle alone is not surface active. By adding appropriate surfactant concentration to nanoparticle dispersion¡ it becomes surface active. The complementary study of both pressure behaviour and morphology of foam using foam’s dynamic characterization apparatus¡ shown in the domain of surfactant concentration¡ apparent viscosity of the foam has a maximum about 6.034 cp which is consistent with the maximum adsorption criterion. Also¡ adding nanoparticle to the solution of surfactant forms more uniform¡ and the smaller foams and the apparent viscosity increase significantly. Increasing at a CO2 injection rate will also increase the size of the bubbles and reduce the apparent viscosity which means an increase in mobility.