Reduction of Fines Migration by Nanofluids

Injection: An Experimental Study

A. Habibi, SPE, M. Ahmadi, SPE, and P. Pourafshary, SPE, Institute of Petroleum Engineering, University of Tehran;
Sh. Ayatollahi, SPE, EOR Research Center, School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Shiraz University
(now with Sharif University of Technology), and Y. Al-Wahaibi, SPE, Sultan Qaboos University

Summary to investigate the effect of velocity alteration on particle release.

Formation damage of oil reservoirs as a result of fines migration Bedrikovetsky et al. (2011a, b, c) also considered a new semiana-
is a major reason for productivity decline. Formation fines are lytical model to predict well-injectivity decline from coreflood
defined as unconfined solid particles present in the pore spaces of data by pressure measurements. They showed that filtration and
formations. Their migration, caused by fluid flow in the reservoir, formation damage coefficients are linear functions of retained-
can cause pore plugging and permeability reduction. In the last 3 particle concentration.
decades, many studies have characterized fines and their migra- Different remediation techniques have been studied to reduce
tion effect on permeability reduction. There are many techniques fines migration or fixation of fines. Hibbeler et al. (2003) provide
in the industry to remediate the damage, especially in the near- an excellent review on practical methods to reduce fines
wellbore region. Nanofluids (NFs) that contain nanoparticles migration.
(NPs) exhibit specific properties, including a high tendency for The use of nanotechnology in exploration and production is an
adsorption and being good candidates for injection into the near- attractive tool for petroleum engineers, which has inspired many
wellbore region, because of the small nanoparticle sizes. In this researchers in recent years (Huang et al. 2008; Kanj et al. 2009;
paper, a packed column is used to study the use of different types Ju and Fan, 2009; Pourafshary et al. 2009; Caldelas 2010; Kong
of NPs to reduce fines migration in synthetic porous materials. et al. 2010; Rahbar et al. 2010; Ju et al. 2006; Zargari et al. 2010;
Three types of NPs—MgO, SiO2, and Al2O3—are used here to Ahmadi et al. 2011; Seiedi et al. 2011). Because of their size
investigate their effects on fines movement. The results indicate (1–100 nm), high specific surface area, and unique properties,
that fines may adhere to the matrix grains, hindering their migra- such as high adsorption potential and heat conductivity, NPs have
tion, when the porous materials are soaked with NFs. Further- been nominated for different applications in the petroleum indus-
more, to check the mechanisms of this remediation technique, the try (e.g., formation damage, enhancing oil recovery, and wettabil-
effect of nanoparticle concentration and fluid flow rates in the me- ity alteration (Huang et al. 2008; Rodriquez et al. 2009; Zhang
dium on fines detachment was studied. A theoretical model was et al. 2010; Villamizar et al. 2010; Espinosa et al. 2010; Proda-
used to calculate total energy of interaction for the surfaces to nović et al. 2010; Zargari et al. 2010; Rahbar et al. 2010; Ahmadi
check experimental results, which was also validated with scan- et al. 2011). Dullien and Dhawan (1974) and Khilar and Fogler
ning electron microscopy (SEM) pictures for samples from syn- (1998) have measured the pore and throat sizes of sandstone as
thetic cores. The results showed that addition of 0.1 wt% of MgO 5.0–50.0 lm and 0.5–5.0 lm, respectively. Hence, the use of
and SiO2 NPs reduced fines migration by 15% compared with the injection fluid containing NPs not only blocks the porous media
reference state. MgO NPs were found to be more effective, even but also coats the pore surface and captures the migratory fines
at high fluid rates, when used at a higher concentration, as noticed (Ahmadi et al. 2011).
in the macroscopic and microscopic results. Huang et al. (2008) used nanocrystals for fines fixation in
proppant packs for the first time. These NPs strengthened the
attractive forces and fixed suspended fines in the porous media. In
Introduction our previous published work, silica surfaces were coated with
Fines are loose and unconsolidated particles (smaller than 37 lm) three dominant adsorbent NPs (alumina, silica, and MgO), and
that move with fluid flow and cause formation damage as a result their adsorption potentials were examined by passing the fines
of filtering action of porous media (Muecke 1979; Valdya and suspension through a packed column treated with the aforemen-
Fogler 1992; Civan 2007). The biggest drawbacks of particle tioned NPs (Ahmadi et al. 2011).
release and migration are pore plugging and productivity-index To explore the potential of fines fixation in porous media by
reduction. Various surface forces have been found to be responsi- NF injection, the effects on effluent fines concentration by treating
ble for fines detachment and release from pore surfaces. London/ porous media with NF are investigated in this study. Furthermore,
van der Waals attraction (VLVA), double-layer and Born repulsion, the optimal NF concentration and injection rate into synthetic
and hydrodynamic forces are the dominant forces in the detach- cores containing fine particles are explored. The amount of
ment of fines from porous media. When the total interaction adsorbed fines and the critical velocity for concentrations of NPs
energy between fines and pore surface becomes positive, repulsive in NF are tested. Surface forces acting between fines and pore sur-
forces are bigger than attractive forces and fines detachment face were studied to understand the mechanism of this phenom-
occurs (Khilar and Fogler 1998; Schramm 1996; Ahmadi et al. enon. The calculation of dimensionless total energy of interaction
2011; Bedrikovetsky, et al. 2011a, b, c). Zeinijahromi et al. was developed on the basis of Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey, and
(2011a, b) mathematically modeled the water-cut reduction at Overbeek theory, and the effect of NP treatment of porous media
producing wells as a result of permeability decline in the water- on surface forces through zeta potential measurement was studied.
swept area. Permeability decline occurred as the result of injected On the basis of the coreflood result, we demonstrated that MgO
water composition changes and induced fines migration. NPs could fix fines better in the core by changing the zeta poten-
Bedrikovetsky et al. (2011a, b, c) developed a new mathemati- tial of the surface. Finally, SEM images of the surface were
cal model containing maximum retention concentration function obtained for qualitative observation of fines attachment to pore
surfaces.
Copyright V
C 2013 Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper (SPE 144196) was accepted for presentation at the SPE European Formation Theory
Damage Conference, Noordwijk, the Netherlands, 7–10 June 2011, and revised for
publication. Original manuscript received for review 27 July 2011. Revised paper received for Khilar and Fogler (1998) presented all the effective forces
review 23 May 2012. Paper peer approved 15 July 2012. between fines and the pore surface. Generally, these surface forces

April 2013 SPE Journal 309

 TABLE 1—EFFECTIVE POTENTIAL IN FINES MIGRATION h

Force Effect Symbol Force

Repulsion VDLR Electric double layer

Attraction VLVA London/van der Waals
Repulsion VBR Born Fig. 1—Sphere/plate model of fine/pore-surface system.
Attraction VAB Acid/base interaction
Repulsion VHR Hydrodynamic potential
Born repulsion (VBR) is a short-range repulsive potential that
results from electron clouds overlapping when the particles
consist of both colloidal and hydrodynamic forces. Surface forces approach the point of contact. Born repulsion potential becomes
and their roles in fines detachment are listed in Table 1. insignificant for distances greater than 1 nm (Khilar and Fogler,
On the basis of this analysis, the total energy of interaction is 1998). Eq. 4 describes this potential for a sphere/plate system:
the summation of effective potentials presented in Table 1. Eq. 1  " #
shows the total interaction energy between fines and the surface. A132 r 6 8þH 6H
A positive VT means repulsive forces are dominant, whereas a VBR ¼   þ . . . . . . . . ð4Þ
7560 ap ð2 þ HÞ7 H7
negative VT is regarded as a domination of attraction forces.
h
VT ¼ VDLR þ VLVA þ VBR þ VAB þ VHR : . . . . . . . . . . . . ð1Þ H¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð5Þ
ap
Neglecting acid/base interaction (because distilled water was Hydrodynamic repulsion (VHR) is the other repulsive potential,
used for all the experiments), the total energy of interaction can which depends on flow velocity and size of the fines. For laminar
be arranged as flow in the porous media, Eq. 6 presents the hydrodynamic poten-
tial (Khilar and Fogler 1998):
VT ¼ VDLR þ VBR þ VHR þ VLVA : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð2Þ
 !
2pq a5p  v2  h
The geometry of attached fines to the pore surface wall crit- VHR ¼  : . . . . . . . . . . . . ð6Þ
ically affects interaction energy with the solid surface. The shapes 3 R3
of fines are irregular, comprising different types, such as globular,
platelet, and needle. To obtain appropriate equations for various VLVA, as an attraction potential, would prevent fines detachment
energies of interactions, the system of fine/pore surface was con- from the surfaces. Eq. 7 has shown London-Van der Waals attrac-
sidered as a sphere/plate system, as shown in Fig. 1 (Khilar and tion (LVA) potential between two bodies for sphere/plate geome-
Fogler 1998; Takahashi and Kovscek 2010). try (Khilar and Fogler, 1998).
The first parameter in Eq. 2, electric double-layer potential pro-   
A132 2  ð1 þ HÞ H
file VDLR, was obtained by solving the Poisson-Boltzmann equa- VLVA ¼  þ ln : . . . . . . ð7Þ
tion for a specified boundary condition and geometry. Afterward, 6 H  ð2 þ HÞ 2þH
free energy change, started by bringing two double layers from in- If the total energy of interactions (VT) is divided by the product
finite separation distance to small distance, was calculated. Khilar of Boltzmann constant and temperature, it becomes dimensionless
and Fogler (1998) introduced the possible boundary conditions for (Khilar and Fogler 1998). Eq. 8 calculates the dimensionless total
fine particles and pore surfaces. They categorized conditions as energy of interaction:
constant potential (CP), constant charge (CC) density, and mixed
cases. In the last case, fine particles maintain CC and other surfaces VT
have CP. Elimelech et al. (1998) describes that constant surface VT;Dimensionless ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð8Þ
KB  T
potential is related to maintenance of surface-chemical equilibrium
at a concise time of an encounter between colloidal bodies. Con- Table 2 presents the values of all constants contributing to cal-
stant surface charge applies to the surfaces with a fixed surface culate VT.
charge, such as latex particles with bound ionic group or clay with
a certain ion-exchange capacity. Khilar and Fogler (1998) and Eli-
melech et al. (1998) have shown that CP and constant-charge cases Experimental Work
give the lowest and highest values for double-layer repulsion- Materials. In the previous study by our group (Ahmadi et al.
potential calculation, respectively. Takahashi and Kovscek (2010) 2011), alumina NP (43 nm), silica NP (48 nm), and MgO NP (63
used a constant surface charge case to calculate the total energy of nm) were selected to coat glass-bead-packed columns. Table 3
interaction between fine particles and a rock surface. In addition, presents the features of NPs used in this study. Nassar (2010)
Takahashi (2009) compared all types of boundary conditions to reported the adsorption properties of these NPs for asphaltene
calculate the double-layer potential and concluded with the same adsorption onto alumina NP, Moussavi and Mahmoudi (2009) for
results as previous researchers. Hence, in this study, constant sur- removal of azo- and anthraquinone-reactive dyes from waste-
face charge was selected as a boundary condition. waters by use of MgO NP, and Maliyekkal et al. (2010) for fluo-
Double-layer potential for a sphere/plate system for CC bound- ride removal by nanomagnesia.
ary conditions is presented in Eq. 3. Furthermore, zeta potential The natural fines used in this study are quantitatively analyzed
provides important data of double-layer structure and surface by use of the X-ray fluorescence method, and the results are pre-
potential. Soaking the solid surfaces with NPs changes the struc- sented in Table 4. The Zetasizer nanosize analyzer (Malvern
ture of the stern layer, which affects the trend of zeta potential Instrument Incorporated, London, UK, ZEN 3600) measures the
across the distances of separation (Ahmadi et al. 2011). In addi- size of NPs by dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique. DLS
tion, it must be noted that surface potential can be replaced by method measures Brownian motion, relates it to the size of the
measured zeta potentials. particles, and determines the size distribution of small particles.
    This apparatus illuminates the particles with a laser and analyzes
ap  1 þ expðjhÞ the intensity fluctuations in the scattered light. The particle size
VDLR ¼ e   2w01 w02 ln
4 1  expðjhÞ distribution shown in Fig. 2 is obtained at 25 C for a water sus-
 pension containing fines particles. The logarithmic x-axis shows a
 ðw201 þ w202 Þ  ln½1  expð2jhÞ . . . . . . . .ð3Þ distribution of size classes, whereas the linear y-axis shows the
relative intensity of the scattered light. The fine particles

310 April 2013 SPE Journal

 TABLE 2—CONSTANTS FOR EQUATIONS

Constant Value

Dielectric constant (e) (Khilar and Fogler 1998) 6.94257  10–10

Particle radius (ap) 10–6 m
Debye length (j) (Bowen and Doneva 2002; Khilar and Fogler 1998) (9.6  10–9)–1 m
Hamaker constant (A132) (Khilar and Fogler 1998) 6  10–21
Boltzmann constant (KB) (Khilar and Fogler 1998) 1.38  10–23
Temperature (T) 297 K
Collision diameter (r) (Khilar and Fogler 1998) 0.5  10–9 m
Fluid density (q) 1000 kg/m3
Radius of the pore (R) 32  10–6 m

trophotometer. The NFs were prepared by use of specified

TABLE 3—CHARACTERISTICS OF NPs amounts of NPs dispersed in distilled water by means of an ultra-
sonic probe for 15 minutes.
Mean Grain Specific Surface
NP Size (nm) Area (m2/g)
Results and Discussion
MgO 63 >160 First Set of Tests (NP Selection). Four tests were designed to
Al2O3 43 40 investigate the effect of different types of NPs for fines fixation
SiO2 48 >600 compared with the nontreated medium. In each test, except the
reference test, the packed bed was soaked with an NF, and fines
suspension was then passed through the column. The size of the
distribution in the suspension was divided into two groups, which glass beads used in the experiments was between 30 and 40 US
show the picks at 1110 nm and 1280 nm with 13.5 and 86.5 mean mesh (420–590 lm), and the weight of fines and the dried paper
intensity percent. The cumulant mean of this suspension is 1260 filter used for all four tests were 3.00 and 1.03 g, respectively.
nm (1.26 lm). NFs with 0.1 wt% of NPs were used. The adsorption efficiencies
of tests are presented in Table 5.
Experimental Procedure. Two different types of tests were per- The results found in this part are close to the previous work pre-
formed to assess the effects of the proposed NPs for fines fixation. sented by Ahmadi et al. (2011), which verified that MgO NPs were
In the first set of experiments, a synthetic porous medium was the best adsorbent for fines fixation. SEM results for the glass beads
used with different types of NPs in the soaking fluid to study the surface soaked with MgO NPs are presented in Figs. 5 through 7.
effect of matrix soaking on fines fixation. The experimental setup Figs. 5 and 6 show treated glass beads with MgO and adsorbed
and procedure are similar to previous work (Ahmadi et al. 2011), fines on the glass-bead surface, whereas Fig. 7 shows MgO NPs on
as shown in Fig. 3. Fines suspension (i.e., fine particles þ distilled the glass surface when fines are also adsorbed. This qualitative ob-
water) was injected from the top of the packed column and flowed servation shows that the main difference in adsorption efficiency
through the packed bed by gravity. Effluent was collected and between the reference state and MgO-soaked medium was the pres-
passed through a paper filter to measure the adsorption efficiency ence of MgO NPs on glass-bead surfaces. Increasing the surface
of different NPs. In this work, the glass beads were soaked for 24 area and changing surface forces were the main factors in remedia-
hours in the NF without any calcinations process. tion of fines migration in the MgO-treated medium. This mechanism
In the second set of tests, a flooding process with a synthetic- is well known in enhanced oil recovery processes as wettability
bead-packed core was used. Experimental setup is shown in alteration, and many research works have been presented in the liter-
Fig. 4. Glass beads and 10 g of formation fines were mixed to cre- ature on the basis of the surface treatment to increase oil recovery ef-
ate a uniform core structure. To prepare the core, a sleeve (1.5-in. ficiency. Chemicals, bioproducts, and NPs have been used widely in
diameter  1-ft length) was filled with 30/40-mesh glass beads the laboratory and field studies that show the injected components
mixed with fines. This synthetic porous medium was then fitted penetrate deeply in the rock by diffusion through different phases
into the core holder. After 3 hours under vacuum, the porous me- which exist there to change the surface properties (Aoudia et al.
dium was saturated with NF and distilled water was used as the 2010; Shutang and Qianq 2010; Al-Sulaimani et al. 2012).
reference test. The medium was soaked with NF for 24 hours,
then distilled water was injected to produce the formation fines in Bead-Packed Flooding (Second Part). Fines migration in po-
the media. Effluent samples were collected for spectrophotometry rous media is affected by fluid-flow hydrodynamics, although NF
analysis to determine the process efficiency. concentration is regarded as an important parameter both techni-
Spectrophotometry is frequently used for the quantitative anal- cally and economically. Several tests were designed to study the
ysis of fines migration (Huang et al. 2008). To evaluate the efflu- effect of MgO NP concentration and fluid-flow rate on the reduc-
ent fines concentration, ultraviolet (UV) and visible (UV-VIS) tion of fines migration in glass-bead-packed cores. The model was
spectrophotometry was used in this study. The measurements prepared as described in the experimental procedure to mimic
were performed on a Unicam 8700 UV-VIS. In the first stage, the fluid flow and fines in the formation. The main properties of the
Unicam 8700 UV-VIS spectrophotometer apparatus was cali- model for all tests in this part are shown in Table 6.
brated with standard aqueous samples containing fines of defined On the basis of the experimental design used for this study,
concentrations. Then, effluent fines concentration of each experi- concentrations of MgO NPs and injection rate were investigated
ment was measured by use of the calibration technique by spec- at three different values. Nine different tests (in addition to the

TABLE 4—FINES ANALYSIS

Fe2O3 TiO2 CaO K2O SO3 P2O5 SiO2 Al2O3 MgO Na2O LiO Comp.

0.925 0.118 1.528 3.087 0.155 0.141 80.843 8.236 0.873 2.073 2.02 wt%

April 2013 SPE Journal 311

 90 fluid, which is shown in Fig. 8. Furthermore, pressure difference
80 between the inlet and outlet bead-packed core did not alter dra-
70 matically; therefore, using NPs is an appropriate choice to remedi-
60 ate formation damage caused by fines migration.
Intensity (%)

50
The energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA) (Ebnesajjad,
2010) performed for samples extracted from Experiments 1 and 2
40
confirms the presence of MgO NPs on surfaces, thus affecting the
30 fines attachment. Table 9 presents component analysis in weight
20 percent for Experiments 1 and 2.
10 Table 9 shows that MgO NPs are adsorbed on glass beads as
0 the main body of synthetic porous media because of strong attrac-
1 10 100 1,000 1,0000 tion between MgO and the silica surface. This coating process
Size (d.nm)
prevents the fines migration. SEM pictures presented in Figs. 9
through 11 provide a proper qualitative observation of fines
Fig. 2—Statistical graph of size distribution of suspension-
containing fines based on the intensity.
adsorption on glass beads for Experiments 1 and 2.
Fig. 12 presents the effluent fines concentration with respect to
NP concentration and fluid velocity. The results show that any
reference case) were performed. Table 7 presents these parame- increase in NP concentration leads to a fines migration reduction.
ters and the values selected by means of experimental design. Furthermore, the hydrodynamic effects of fluid in porous media is
In the reference case, the vacuum-dried porous model was sat- also shown in Fig. 12, representing a critical velocity for fines
urated with distilled water. In the other tests, it was saturated with detachment from the surfaces, because the measured effluent fine
NFs at different concentrations. Calibrated spectrophotometer concentrations for 1000- and 1300-mL/h fluid rate are equal.
analysis was used to investigate the concentration of fines in the
effluent samples. Table 8 shows the main test results: effluent
Effect of Injection Rate
fines concentration by means of spectrophotometer analysis, pres-
sure differences between the inlet and outlet of the bead-packed One of the important repulsive forces for fines release in porous
core, and the measured zeta potential for each MgO NP concen- media is the hydrodynamic force, releasing the fines mechani-
tration by Zetasizer Nano series (Malvern Instrument Incorpo- cally. To investigate the effects of fluid rate, nine pore volumes
rated, London, UK, ZEN 3600). of fluid were injected through the models at three different
velocities.
Often, fluid flows in a porous medium in laminar flow; thus,
three injection rates were selected in the laminar region with a
Effect of MgO NPs Concentration
Reynolds number of less than unity. Eq. 9 defines Reynolds num-
The results presented in Table 8 show that effluent fines concen- ber as the dimensionless representation of this force in the fines
tration for the reference test is the highest, whereas it decreases migration process (Takahashi and Kovscek 2010). Table 10
for test models soaked with NFs. The turbidity of effluent samples shows the fluid rates and calculated Reynolds number based on
for Experiments 1 and 2 is shown in Fig. 8. The results indicate Darcy velocity.
that, although the zeta potential of the surface increased posi-
tively, it affected the attraction and repulsion forces, thus increas- qus d
ing efficiency of the fines remediation process. When the porous NRe ¼ ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð9Þ
lð1  /Þ
medium was soaked with MgO NPs for 24 hours, MgO NPs fixed
fines on the surface. Because zeta-potential values changed from where q is the fluid density, us is the Darcy fluid velocity, / is the
34 to þ14.2, double-layer repulsion was reduced; thus, the total porosity, d is the spherical glass-bead diameter, and l is the
interaction energy had the effect of more attraction. viscosity.
Sample turbidity, because it was also measured through spec- Fig. 13 presents effluent fines concentration at different dis-
troscopy analysis, is representative of fines presence in the outlet tilled water injection rates for three NP concentration treatments.

Separatory funnel
containing fine
suspension

Glass tube packed Glass bead grain

with glass beads

Nano particle
layer

Adsorbed fines
Filter paper Passed fines

Buchner system Entrance to

vacuum pump

Fig. 3—Experimental setup (first set of tests).

312 April 2013 SPE Journal

 TABLE 5—ADSORPTION EFFICIENCY
Over
Burden
Pressure Adsorption Changes Compared to
Experiment Efficiency the Reference State (%)
Core Holder
Reference 57.16 0
Soaked with alumina 61.46 4.3
Soaked with silica 66.43 9.27
Transfer
Soaked with MgO 69.96 12.8
Sample
Vessel

DBR
Pump

Fig. 4—Experimental setup (second set of tests).

Fig. 6—Adsorbed fines on the glass-bead surface (264X).

studied, with results shown in Fig. 14 for an 800-mL/h fluid

rate and different MgO NP concentrations with distance of separa-
tion changes from 1 Å to 10 nm. It should be noted that Born
repulsion becomes negligible at distances of more than 1 nm
(Khilar and Fogler 1998).
It is shown that dimensionless total energy of interaction at
Fig. 5—Glass-bead particles soaked in MgO NF. separation distances less than 0.5 nm is strongly repulsive (posi-
tive) because of the Born repulsion. The total energy for the refer-
The amount of fines in the exit stream of the core flooding system ence case changes considerably compared with the NP-treated
did not change at velocities higher than 1000 mL/h. At 0.2 wt% cases at distances greater than 1 nm and becomes positive, which
NP concentration, the attraction forces between pore surfaces and causes the fines to start the silica surface detachment process and
fines were high enough to hold the fines in place, even at high remain in the repulsive zone for all the separation distance, mostly
fluid rates. because of double-layer repulsion forces. A small difference
between cases treated with NPs was noticed as a result of differ-
ences in zeta potential and double-layer repulsion.
Total Energy of Interaction Calculation To study the effect of injection rate on dimensionless total
energy of interaction, the calculated total energy is shown in
Surface potential, as described earlier, was calculated for different Fig. 15 for the 0.05 wt% NP concentration and different veloc-
zeta potentials and fluid-flow velocities. The effect of MgO NP ities. Eq. 6 is validated only for laminar fluid flow in porous media
concentration on the dimensionless total energy of interaction was that was not exceeded in the tests of this study. As described earlier,
hydrodynamic potential depends on fines sizes and fluid velocity.
Hydrodynamic potential can be neglected because it is important
only at high velocity and with large particles (Khilar and Fogler
1998). Table 11 presents all potentials at 1- and 5-nm distances.
Because Born repulsion can be neglected at distances greater
than 1 nm (as already stated) and hydrodynamic potential can be
neglected compared with double-layer and London/van der Waals
potentials, it is clear from Table 11 that when the distances
between fines and surface increase, the hydrodynamic potential
increases. However, it can be disregarded compared with other
forces involved in this process. It must be mentioned that, in this

TABLE 6—PETROPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF POROUS

MEDIA

Property Value

Porosity (/) 0.26

Fig. 7—Closer look at adsorbed fines and MgO NPs on the
Absolute permeability (K) 18 darcies
glass-bead surface.

April 2013 SPE Journal 313

 TABLE 7—SELECTED PARAMETERS AND THEIR VALUES

Parameter Level 1 Values Level 2 Values Level 3 Values

Concentration of MgO NP 0.05 wt% NP 0.1 wt% NP 0.2 wt% NP

Injection rate 800 mL/h 1000 mL/h 1300 mL/h

TABLE 8—EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

NP Concentration Fluid Rate Pressure Difference Effluent Fines Zeta

Experiment No. (wt% NP) (mL/hr) (psia) Concentration (g/mL) Potential (mV)

1 (reference test) 0 800 0.5 0.005333 –34

2 0.1 800 0.5 0.000001 þ12.8
3 0.1 1300 0.75 0.000667 þ12.8
4 0.05 800 0.5 0.002000 þ10.2
5 0.05 1300 0.75 0.002667 þ10.2
6 0.1 1000 0.6 0.000667 þ12.8
7 0.2 800 0.5 0.000001 þ14.2
8 0.2 1000 0.6 0.000001 þ14.2
9 0.2 1300 0.75 0.000001 þ14.2
10 0.05 1000 0.75 0.002667 þ10.2

TABLE 9—EDAX ANALYSIS OF THE GRAINS EXTRACTED

FROM TESTS 1 AND 2

Experiment No. MgO Al2O3 SiO2 K2O Fe2O3

No treatment (1) 1.42 4.72 86.73 3.12 4

Treated (2) 3.54 12.66 78.27 3.38 2.15

condition (small particles and low velocity), hydrodynamic poten-

tial can be disregarded.
As mentioned, the main differences between the reference test
and others are surface zeta potential and double-layer repulsion.
The results for all velocities used here coincide with each other.

Feasibility of Field Application

Fines fixation within the reservoir is the best strategy for formation
damage reduction. Some unique properties of NPs, such as chemi-
cal and thermal stability, environmental acceptance, large surface
area, enhanced surface interaction potentials, and other well-
Fig. 8—Effluent sample from Experiment 1 (right); effluent sam-
ple from Experiment 2 (left). known properties, are the most important reasons behind their can-
didacy for use by the exploration and production industry. There
are two proposed possible methods to use NPs for fines remedia-
tion. In the first proposed mechanism, NPs coat the proppant pack
in hydraulic-fracture stimulation, and fines are adsorbed on the
proppant pack in the reservoir uniformly, preventing fines from
migration (Belcher et al. 2010; Huang et al. 2010). For the second
proposed method, MgO NF acts as a stimulating agent in the near-
wellbore production region. By injection of MgO NF into the well-
bore region, it diffuses into the formation rock at the wellbore,
which coats the rock surface in the drainage area zone. This stimu-
lation process would fix the fines at their sources when reservoir
conditions change, including exceeding the critical value of fluid
velocity and the water-shock phenomenon occurring as a result of
low-salinity-brine injection or injection of high-pH EOR agent.
Zeta potential changing and strengthening the attraction forces in
comparison with repulsive forces in the aforementioned conditions
cause fines retention. If the zeta potential of the media is changed
because of different types of the injected fluids, precipitation in the
porous rock could occur because of instability condition in the
reservoir formation. The main parameters that must be scaled
Fig. 9—Fines attached on the glass-beads surface without any up for NF injection into the reservoir are NF stability for a long
treatment (Experiment 1). period of time and thermal stability in the reservoir-pressure

314 April 2013 SPE Journal

Fig. 10—Attached fines on the treated glass beads with MgO Fig. 11—Closer look at adsorbed fines in the presence of MgO
(Experiment 2). NPs.
Effluent Fines Concentration (g/cc)

0.003 TABLE 10—SELECTED VELOCITIES FOR FLUID FLOW INTO

THE TREATED POROUS MEDIA
0.0025
0.002 Fluid Pore Darcy
0.0015 Rate Velocity Velocity Reynolds
Inj. 800
(mL/h) (m/s) (m/s) Number
0.001 Inj. 1000
0.0005 800 7.5  10–4 1.95  10–4 0.111
Inj. 1300
1000 9.1  10–4 2.45  10–4 0.138
0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 1300 1.2  10–3 3.18  10–4 0.180
NP Concentration (wt%)

Fig. 12—Effluent fines concentration vs. NP concentration.

to the alteration of zeta potential on the surface from negative
to positive. Qualitative SEM observations clearly showed the
adsorbed fines on the treated solid surfaces.
and -temperature condition, which play an important role in fines
fixation efficiency. To make this process more successful and appli-
cable, different tests on the effects of pH, water salinity, NP sizes, Nomenclature
rate and time of injection, soaking time, and possible damage by NP ap ¼ particle radius
injection, along with eventual pilot tests, must be performed. A132 ¼ Hamaker constant
d ¼ glass-bead diameter
E ¼ dielectric constant
Conclusion
H ¼ distance of separation
Water-based silica, alumina, and magnesium oxide NFs were K ¼ permeability
used to treat porous media to decrease fines migration. The results KB ¼ Boltzmann constant
showed that MgO NF, used to treat synthetic porous media, could NRe ¼ Reynolds number
fix fines more effectively than Al2O3 and SiO2. Subsequently, the P ¼ fluid density
effects of MgO NF concentration and fluid flow velocity on fines R ¼ radius of pore
fixation in synthetic cores were investigated experimentally, indi- T ¼ temperature
cating an optimized concentration for zeta-potential changes and us ¼ Darcy velocity
critical velocity for fines detachment. The most significant forces V ¼ fluid velocity
acting on the fines and pore wall in the presence of NPs were stud- VAB ¼ acid/base energy
ied. The calculation of the total energy of interaction showed that VBR ¼ Born energy
attraction potentials between fines and pore walls were improved VDLR ¼ electric double-layer energy
by soaking the porous media with MgO NF. This was attributed VHR ¼ hydrodynamic potential
VLVA ¼ London/van der Waals energy
VT ¼ total energy of interactions
Effluent Fines Concentration (g/cc)

0.003 VT, Dimensionless ¼ dimensionless form of total energy of

0.0025 interactions
j ¼ Debye length
0.002
l ¼ fluid viscosity
0.0015 Concentration 0.05 q ¼ fluid density
0.001 Concentration 0.1
R ¼ collision diameter
/ ¼ porosity
Concentration 0.2
0.0005 w01, w02 ¼ zeta potentials
0
800 900 1,000 1,100 1,200 1,300
Injention Rate (mL/h) Acknowledgments
We thank the Iran National Science Foundation for providing the
Fig. 13—Effluent fines concentration vs. injection rate. financial support to undertake this research.

April 2013 SPE Journal 315

 500

300

100

Dimensionless total energy of interaction

0 2E–09 4E–09 6E–09 8E–09 1E–08
–100

0.05 wt% NP Con. at

–300 CC
0.1 wt% NP Con. at CC

–500
0.2 wt% NP Con. at CC

Reference at CC
–700

–900

–1,100
Distance of seperation (nm)

Fig. 14—Comparison of total energy of interaction derived for different NP concentrations among the CP and constant charge,
considering the hydrodynamic effect at 800 mL/h.

700

800 cc/hr
500 1,000 cc/hr
Dimensionless total energy of interaction

1,300 cc/hr
300
Reference

100

0 2E–09 4E–09 6E–09 8E–09 1E–08

–100

–300

–500

–700
Distance of seperation (nm)

Fig. 15—Dimensionless total energy of interaction vs. distance of separation at different fluid velocities.

TABLE 11—POTENTIAL AT 1- AND 5-nm DISTANCES

1-nm Distance 5-nm Distance

Potential of Separation of Separation

VDLR 9.6  10–21 –6.9  10–20

VBR 7.4  10–23 9.5  10–28
VLVA –9.9  10–19 –1.9  10–19
VHR (first velocity) 3.4  10–29 1.7  10–28
VHR (second velocity) 5.1  10–29 2.57  10–28
VHR (third velocity) 8.9  10–29 4.47  10–28

316 April 2013 SPE Journal

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April 2013 SPE Journal 317

Villamizar, L., Lohateeraparp, P., Harwell, J., et al. 2010. Interfacially neering and reservoir engineering from the University of
Active SWNT/Silica Nanohybrid Used in Enhanced Oil Recovery. Pa- Tehran.
per SPE 129901 presented at the SPE Improved Oil Recovery Sympo- Milad Ahmadi is a graduate student at Louisiana State Univer-
sium, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 24–28 April. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/ sity. His current research concerns modeling of naturally frac-
129901-MS. tured and geothermal reservoirs. He holds BS and PhD
Zargari, S., Ostvar, S., Niazi, A., et al. 2010. Atomic Force Microscopy degrees in chemical engineering and petroleum engineering
and Wettability Study of the Alteration of Mica and Sandstone by a from the University of Tehran.
Biosurfactant-Producing Bacterium Bacillus thermodenitrificans. Peyman Pourafshary has worked as an assistant professor in the
Journal of Advanced Microscopy Research 5 (2), 143–148. http:// Institute of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Tehran
dx.doi.org/10.1166/jamr.2010.1036. since 2007. His research topics are related to petroleum pro-
Zeinijahromi, A., Lemon, P., and Bedrikovetsky, P. 2011a. Effects of duction, formation damage stimulation, and multiphase fluid
Induced Migration of Fines on Water Cut During Waterflooding. Paper flow and reservoir fast simulation fields. He holds a PhD degree
SPE 139239 presented at the SPE Middle East Oil and Gas Show and from the University of Texas at Austin in petroleum engineering.
Conference, Manama, Bahrain, 25–28 September. http://dx.doi.org/ Shahab Ayatollahi is full professor of chemical and petroleum
10.2118/139239-MS. engineering at both Shiraz University and the Sharif University
Zeinijahromi, A., Phuong, T.N., and Bedrikovetsky, P. 2011b. Taking of Technology, Iran. email: [email protected]. He is cur-
Advantage of Fines-Migration-Induced Formation Damage for rently the director of the Enhanced Oil Recovery Research
Improved Waterflooding (Reservoir Simulation Using Polymer Flood Center at Shiraz University (www.eor.ir), one of the leading
Option). Paper SPE 144009 presented at the SPE European Formation EOR centers in the Middle East. His research interests are flow
Damage Conference, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 7–10 June. http:// in porous media, enhanced oil recovery, and nanotechnol-
ogy in petroleum engineering. Ayatollahi holds BS and MS
dx.doi.org/10.2118/144009-MS. degrees in chemical engineering from Shiraz University and a
Zhang, T., Davidson, A., Bryant, S.L., et al.. 2010. Nanoparticle- PhD degree in chemical engineering from the University of
Stabilized Emulsion for Application in Enhanced Oil Recovery. Paper Waterloo, Canada. Ayatollahi is a member of SPE.
SPE 129885 presented at the SPE Improved Oil Recovery Sympo-
Yahya Al-Wahaibi is an associate professor of petroleum engi-
sium, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 24–28 April. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/
neering and head of the Petroleum and Chemical Engineering
129885-MS.
Department at Sultan Qaboos University. email: ymn@squ,
edu.om. His research interests encompass the enhanced oil
Ali Habibi is a research assistant at the University of Tehran. recovery of heavy and conventional oils and multiphase flow
email: [email protected]. His research interests include forma- in pipelines. Al-Wahaibi holds a BS degree from Sultan Qaboos
tion damage control and application of nanotechnology in University, an MS degree from Heriot-Watt University, and a
formation damage prevention and enhanced oil recovery PhD degree from Imperial College London, all in petroleum
techniques. Habibi holds BS and MS degrees in chemical engi- engineering.

318 April 2013 SPE Journal