Papers by Keyword: Surface Interaction

Abstract: Understanding how oil and water interact at the surface level is essential for enhancing crude oil recovery, particularly in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques. This study explores the effects of three types of nanoparticles, aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃), zinc oxide (ZnO), and silica-coated iron oxide (Fe₃O₄@SiO₂) on key interfacial properties such as wettability and interfacial tension. Using a sand pack displacement setup under controlled flow conditions, nanofluids were prepared at concentrations ranging from 0.1 wt% to 0.5 wt% and evaluated for their dynamic viscosity and permeability characteristics. Results showed that ZnO reached the highest viscosity at 1.694 cP (0.5 wt%), while Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ recorded the lowest at 0.995 cP (0.1 wt%). Interestingly, permeability increased with viscosity, contrary to conventional expectations, with ZnO achieving a peak of 90 mD. Oil recovery also improved with higher nanoparticle concentrations. Al₂O₃ delivered the best performance at 0.5 wt%, recovering 27 mL of oil, followed by ZnO (24 mL) and Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ (15 mL). These findings underscore the importance of selecting the right nanoparticle type and concentration to improve EOR performance, with Al₂O₃ showing the most promise for enhancing both permeability and displacement efficiency.

Abstract: Graphene oxide (GO) exhibits a wide range of outstanding mechanical, electrical, and physical characteristics, and it is of substantial interest to impart such qualities onto polymeric materials such as poly (methyl methacrylate) PMMA for wider specialized functionalization. The attention of this work is on the development of emulsion polymerization procedure to prepare PMMA-GO nanocomposite and the effect of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) surfactant dosages incorporated during the polymerization, on the effect of PMMA surface interactions in oil. The grafting efficiency is quantified using the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and the effect of surfactant concentration on PMMA-GO stability is examined using UV-Visible spectroscopy, zeta potential and particle size analyses using the Malvern Zetasizer. The surfactant free emulsion has a better stabilization in terms of zeta potential analysis compared to emulsion of PMMA-GO with 0.32, and 0.4 wt. % of SDS. The polymerized PMMA-GO can be used as a model system to alter wax crystallization at low temperatures in oil and gas industries.