An Experimental Investigation of Wettability Alteration of Carbonated Rock Using Alpha-Alumina Nanofluid

According to increasing human energy requirements and energy source limitation, production of fossil energy is an important issue. Enhanced oil recovery techniques have been developed for increasing the amount of crude oil that can be extracted from oil fields. Recently, the application of nanoparticles (NPs) suspension flooding for EOR purposes has been proved. In addition, NPs can improve fluid-rock interaction characteristics such as wettability. In this work, alpha-Alumina nanofluid effects have been investigated in wettability alteration of carbonated rocks. Contact angle is used to analyze the alteration of surface wettability. Different nanofluids concentration in the range from 0.1 to 0.5 wt.% is used. Finally, the result clearly indicates the improvement wettability of reservoir to highly water-wet when it is treated with nanofluids.