Application of α-MnO nanoparticles for residual oil mobilization through surfactant polymer flooding.

Injection of surfactant and polymer slug is among the most effective chemical enhanced oil recovery processes. The only problem encountered with the surfactant polymer (SP) flooding is the loss of surface-active agents that reduce the efficiency of surfactants in the chemical slug. Various attempts to modify SP flooding have been made previously so that the surfactant loss due to adsorption could be reduced.

Application of Novel Colloidal Silica Nanoparticles in the Reduction of Adsorption of Surfactant and Improvement of Oil Recovery Using Surfactant Polymer Flooding.

Surfactant polymer flooding is one of the most common chemical enhanced oil recovery techniques, which improves not only the microscopic displacement of the fluid through the formation of the emulsion but also the volumetric sweep efficiency of the fluid by altering the viscosity of the displacing fluid. However, one constraint of surfactant flooding is the loss of the surfactant by adsorption onto the reservoir rock surface. Hence, in this study, an attempt has been made to reduce the adsorption of the surfactant on the rock surface using novel colloidal silica nanoparticles (CSNs).