Study of Adsorption and Transport Behavior of Iron Oxide (Fe2O3) Nanofluids In Difference Porous Media

In order to extract more residual oil in place, understanding the adsorption and
transportation of nanoparticles in porous media is critical. Even though there are a
lot of studies on nanoparticles application in oil and gas industry but until today, the
transport of nanoparticles in porous media for oil recovery has been little
investigated. No specific research to investigate the adsorption and transport
behavior of iron oxide nanofluids using different porous media. Coreflooding tests
are performed to study iron oxide nanofluids particle adsorption onto three different
porous media medium - Berea sandstone, glass bead and river sand. By measuring
the particle concentration in the effluent by using UV/Vis spectrophotometer, iron
oxide nanofluids transport in different core samples was investigated. Particle
plugging and changes of core’s permeability was observed during the tests by
measured pressure drop across the porous medium. The relative concentration of
iron oxide for sandstone, glass bead, and river sand were estimated as 30%, 48% and
35% respectively. It was found that sandstone has the lowest permeability compare
to other which could lead to higher interactions between moving particles and pore
surfaces that promote pore – throat processes e.g. plugging. Iron oxide show the
lowest adsorption (0.03 wt %) and transport behavior in the sandstone compare to
river sand and glass bead. The pressure drop was observed increase continuously
during the coreflood test due to the porous medium permeability change, which
means the particle plugging occurred in the porous medium.