Investigating synergistic effects of nonionic surfactant and silica nanoparticles on emulsion viscosity and stability.

Abstract

Exploiting oil reserves has been a priority in recent years due to the high demand for energy. One method proposed to overcome the drawbacks of standard chemical enhanced oil recovery is the usage of emulsion flooding. Enhancing emulsion stability is important to ensure its performance. Moreover, the viscosity should be maintained to ensure its capability in pushing the reservoir oil. Synergistic effect between surfactants and nanoparticles has been suggested to achieve the intended viscosity and stability for emulsions. This article reviews this effect between nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100) and silica nanoparticles (SNP) in enhancing the emulsion viscosity and stability with varying the weight ratio of SNP to Triton X-100. The apparent viscosity of the emulsion was measured, and bottle test was used to investigate emulsion stability. It was observed that emulsion viscosity has peaked to 87 cP with weight ratio of 0.5 compared to 12 cP with no added SNP. Moreover, the 0.5 weight ratio of SNP to Triton X-100 was proved to be the most stable emulsion among the investigated samples in this article; where emulsion phase height percentage has experienced a decrease (measure of emulsion stability) up to 40% compared to 55% decrease in the case of using Triton X-100 surfactant only. This has shown that nonionic surfactant and nanoparticles (NPs) with the usage of a proper weight ratio can be used in enhancing the emulsion viscosity and stability. Hence, these emulsions could be used applications of utilizing emulsion as a flooding method where the stability of the emulsion and its viscosity is crucial.