Design and characterization of oil-in-water nanoemulsion for enhanced oil recovery stabilized by amphiphilic copolymer, nonionic surfactant, and LAPONITE® RD

Abstract

The application of nanotechnology in the oil and gas industry has attracted widespread attention in recent years. This study aims to develop a nanoemulsion (NE) for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The NE stabilized by anion amphiphilic copolymer, nonionic surfactant (Brij30) and modified LAPONITE® RD was prepared by the phase inversion composition (PIC) method. The appearance of the emulsion is translucent and the average particle size is less than 60 nm. The micromorphology and interfacial tension (IFT) are examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and a spinning drop IFT meter, respectively. The NE possesses good stability evaluated by conductivity and particle size tests. The absolute value of the zeta potential of NE increases when modified LAPONITE® RD is added. In a core flooding experiment with an artificial sandstone core, the NE flooding increased oil recovery by 23.53% compared to water flooding.