Specialists from the Siberian Federal University (SFU) have developed an innovative nanoemulsion based on water and oil, which allows to increase oil recovery from fields with hard-to-recover reserves by 14 percentage points.
The new technology is based on the use of not individual nanoparticles, but a nanoemulsion — a stable mixture of water with a minimum amount of oil.
We went further than existing approaches. We don't use nanoparticles, but create a nanoemulsion based on the hydrocarbon phase. This direction has not been well studied in oil production yet
The process of creating an emulsion is simple: about 1% of oil is added to water, then a stable nanoemulsion is formed under the influence of ultrasound, the structure of which is fixed by emulsifiers. The technology does not require large investments — raw materials can be taken directly from the field, and the reagents used are already widely used in the industry. At the same time, the nanoemulsion can be manufactured at the extraction site, which makes the method especially convenient for remote facilities.
Currently, the oil recovery rate in Siberian fields is 45–60%. According to the developers' calculations, the use of the new nanoemulsion will increase this figure to 74%. The only limitation is the capacity of the installations for the preparation of emulsions, however, according to researchers, this problem will be solved within the next two years.
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