Author details

infinitesimal and almost negligible [96]. Cheraghian et al. performed static adsorption experiments to investigate the impact of nano-SiO2 and nanoclay on the adsorption inhibition of polyacrylamide onto sandstone rocks. Polymer

nanoparticles containing SiO2 nanoparticle showed lower adsorption onto sand-

Wettability alteration plays a vital role in enhancing the microscopic displacement efficiency. In the case of polymeric nanofluids, an interplay of electrostatic repulsive forces occur at the interface of the nanoparticles., Two-dimension layered structure of nanoparticles occur due to Brownian motion when brought into contact with an oil-wet solid surface, creating a wedge film because of the ordering of nanoparticles at the three-phase (solid-oil–water) contact region. This results in an increase of the disjoining pressure,which causes the spreading of the nanofluid phase at the wedge of the vertex, altering the wettability of the surface [6]. Maurya et al. grafted polyacrylamide on the surface of SiO2 using the free radical polymerization approach and investigated its wettability potential on an oil-wet sandstone rock surface. They indicated that the polymer grafted nanoparticle altered the wettability of the sandstone surface to a more water-wet condition [86]. Maghzi et al. performed wettability alteration studies employing polymer nanoparticles consisting of SiO2 nanoparticle and polyacrylamide polymer solution in a five-spot glass micromodel. The polymer nanoparticle altered the surface of the micromodel from an average contact angle of 112° (oil-wet) to 20° (water-wet). More details of wettability alteration by polymeric nanofluids can be found in the literature [6, 34].

This chapter summarizes some of the recent advances in the application of nanotechnology in chemical EOR processes to boost oil production. The mechanisms of oil recovery through nanotechnology were reviewed. Several experimental studies were summarized and discussed. Results of various experiments shows that the incorporation of nanotechnology with chemical EOR shows good potential to improve pore scale mechanisms in the case of surfactant. Adsorption of surfactant on rock pores is inhibited while greater IFT reduction and better wettability alteration were achieved. Furthermore, nanotechnology improved the rheological prop-

erties of polymer and stability of emulsions and foams indicating the good potentials of improving sweep efficiency of injected chemicals especially in the presence of harsh reservoir conditions. Finally, future research should focus on modeling the flow behavior of nanomaterials through porous media, which is required for the designing and field implementation of nano-chemicals EOR.

AMPS 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid

stone rock surface compared to the polymer containing nanoclay [97].

3.2.3 Wettability alteration

Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes - New Technologies

4. Conclusions

Nomenclature

40

AA acrylic acid

AM acrylamide

AlOOH aluminum hydroxide

AMC12S 2-acrylamido-dodecylsulfonate APTES (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane Afeez Gbadamosi1,2\*, Radzuan Junin1 , Muhammad Manan<sup>1</sup> , Augustine Agi1 and Jeffrey Oseh1,2

1 Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, School of Engineering, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

2 Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

\*Address all correspondence to: gbadamosiafeezo@abuad.edu.ng

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
