Experimental, computational and simulation oversight of silica-co-poly acrylates composite prepared by surfactant-stabilized emulsion for polymer flooding in unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs

Chemical flooding acquires incremental attention through underground reservoirs during different oil processing stages. Nanoparticles grafted on polymer surface serve to decrease brine/oil interfacial tension and improve the oil recovery factor. In thiswork, the authors investigate the synthesis, evaluation, and application of the silica-copolyacrylates composite as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) candidate. Rheological properties estimated and modeled at simulated reservoir conditions relevant to stress scanning and viscosity shearing performance. The modeling analysis reveals that the shear-stress relation obeys Hershel-Bulkley modeling, while the viscosityshearing profile obeys power-law modeling. Mechanical properties of the synthesized composite calculated by molecular dynamics and numerical modeling built-in the Biovia Material Studio software. The results indicate that the incorporation of the silane coupling agent dramatically enhances the mechanical properties, including bulk, elastic, Young's, and shear moduli, as well as Poisson's ratio. Flooding displacements initiated on linearassembly by brine solution followed by injection of silica-co-polyacrylates composite and native polymer at imitated reservoir conditions. The recovery factor reveals that the silica-co-polyacrylates composite serves as an active EOR agent. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.