Investigating the Effect of Different Nanoparticles on the Interfacial Tension Reduction

Nanoparticles gained respectful attention in the oil industry due to their ability to enhance physical properties for the injected fluid, and reservoir fluid. Many kinds of literaturehave demonstrated nanoparticles ability to decrease the interfacial tension, consequently, reduce residual oil saturation, and increase the oil recovery factor. This research aims to study the effect of nanoparticles on reducing interfacial tension between crude oil and nanofluids through applying different nanoparticles including Aluminum oxide, Nickel oxide, Zeolite, Silica, Ferric oxide, Tungsten trioxide and montmorillonite with the size of 5 nm. Different nanofluids concentrations were displaced through sand pack model, where interfacial tension between crude oil and ejected brine was estimated. Interfacial tension between crude oil/brine was measured to be 47.9 dyne/cm, finally, the interfacial tension was reduced to 30.5009 dyne/cm by using nano montmorillonite.