Experimental Investigation of the Viscosity and Stability of Scleroglucan-Based Nanofluids for Enhanced Oil Recovery

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 14; no. 2; p. 156
• Main Authors: Castro, Rubén H, Corredor, Laura M, Llanos, Sebastián, Causil, María A, Arias, Adriana, Pérez, Eduar, Quintero, Henderson I, Romero Bohórquez, Arnold R, Franco, Camilo A, Cortés, Farid B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-01-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Accuracy; Aluminum oxide; Analysis of variance; Biodegradation; biopolymer; Biopolymers; Chloride; Electrolytes; Enhanced oil recovery; Fluids; Glucans; Hydration; Identification and classification; Mechanical properties; Methods; Molecular structure; Nanofluids; Nanoparticles; Oil recovery; Oxidation; Polyacrylamide; Polymers; Rheology; Scleroglucan; Silicon dioxide; Stability tests; Temperature; Titanium dioxide; Variance analysis; Viscosity; viscosity behavior; Colombia; United States > US; biopolymer; scleroglucan; viscosity behavior; enhanced oil recovery; nanofluids
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano14020156

Biopolymers emerge as promising candidates for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) applications due to their molecular structures, which exhibit better stability than polyacrylamides under harsh conditions. Nonetheless, biopolymers are susceptible to oxidation and biological degradation. Biopolymers reinforced with nanoparticles could be a potential solution to the issue. The nanofluids' stability and performance depend on the nanoparticles' properties and the preparation method. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the preparation method and the nanoparticle type (SiO
, Al
O
, and TiO
) on the viscosity and stability of the scleroglucan (SG). The thickening effect of the SG solution was improved by adding all NPs due to the formation of three-dimensional structures between the NPs and the SG chains. The stability test showed that the SG + Al
O
and SG + TiO
nanofluids are highly unstable, but the SG + SiO
nanofluids are highly stable (regardless of the preparation method). According to the ANOVA results, the preparation method and standing time influence the nanofluid viscosity with a statistical significance of 95%. On the contrary, the heating temperature and NP type are insignificant. Finally, the nanofluid with the best performance was 1000 ppm of SG + 100 ppm of SiO
_120 NPs prepared by method II.