Visualizing the Nano-Particles Flow through Porous Media using Transparent Micromodels

The nano-particles flow study in reservoir is still new for the petroleum extraction field. The increasing need for visualizing the nano-particles effects towards fluids flow in porous media is the result of the importance of nano-particles study in understanding deeper about particles-flow behavior and its effects towards other fluids especially in EOR process. In this research, few transparent micromodels have been constructed to resemble the reservoir rock as close as possible. The best micromodel is selected and tested for fluids flow. The fluids flow were tested with and without the presence of nano-particles and the comparison was made during the observation. The presence of nano-particles effects towards fluids behavior were highlighted.
Few micromodels have been constructed as resemble as possible with the reservoir rock properties although there are few constraints limiting the capacity of the model. Each micromodels were made differently in terms of their grains size and structure which later on induced the porosity and visibility value. One micromodel has been chosen due to its good visibility under microscope lens while maintaining the least minimum porosity (among all the micromodels). This is important as the fluids flow process in the porous media can be visualized as good as possible like the process of fluids flow in the reservoir rock if good micromodel is selected.
The fluids flow test were carried out upon the micromodel selection. The effect of nano-particles towards fluids during the displacement process of two fluids were observed thoroughly under the microscope. Few founds were discovered in the resultant images of the fluids flow and analysis were carried out qualitatively for the mean of understanding their correlation with the nano-particles effects.
The visualization of nano-particles effects towards fluid flow in porous media by using the selected transparent micromodel has been successful and the aim to see if there is any effects of nano-particles towards fluids has indeed yield positive results.