Cardanol /SiO2 Nanocomposites for Inhibition of Formation Damage by Asphaltene Precipitation/Deposition in Light Crude Oil Reservoirs. Part II: Nanocomposite Evaluation and Coreflooding Test.

This study aims to evaluate the behavior of Cardanol/SiO2 nanocomposites in the inhibition of the asphaltene damage based on the coreflooding test at reservoir conditions. The nanocomposite design was performed in Part I (https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.0c01114), leading to SiO2 nanoparticles functionalized with different mass fractions of cardanol on the surface of 5 (5CSN), 7 (7CSN), and 9% (9CSN). In this part of the study, the nanocomposite/reservoir fluid interactions were evaluated through interfacial tension measurements and nanocomposite/rock surface interactions using water imbibition and contact angle measurements. Results showed that the designed nanocomposite leads to a reduction of interfacial tension of 82.6, 61.7, and 51.4% for 5CSN, 7CSN, and 9CSN regarding silica support (SN). Whereas, the reduction of the Si-OH functional groups from SiO2 nanoparticles due to the increase of the cardanol content affects the effectiveness of the wettability alteration for 7CSN and 9CSN. Nevertheless, when 5CSN is evaluated, the system is altered from an oil-wet to a mixed-wet state. Coreflooding tests at reservoir conditions were performed to evaluate the oil recovery after asphaltene damage, after damage removal and nanofluid injection, and after induction of a second asphaltene damage to check inhibition. Results show that the selected nanocomposites at a dosage of 300 mg·L-1 enhance the oil recovery in comparison with the baseline conditions via the reduction of the interfacial/surface forces at the pore scale and wettability alteration. It is worth to remark that this improvement remains after the second asphaltene damage induction, which proves the high inhibitory capacity of the designed nanocomposite for the asphaltene precipitation/deposition. Also, the use of the nanocomposites favors the oil recovery more than 50% compared to the asphaltene damage scenario.

Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of two crosslinked polymeric resins and their comparison with walnut shell in oil removal from water.

The aim of this paper was to compare two kinds of adsorbents (walnut shell and polymeric resins) in terms of their efficiency to remove oil from water, since walnut shell losses weight during the process requiring interruption, while polymeric resins do not. Polymeric resins based on glycidyl methacrylate and divinylbenzene (GMA-DVB) and styrene and divinylbenzene (STY-DVB) were synthesized and characterized. All adsorbents were tested by continuous flow process, eluting 3,000 bed volumes of synthetic oily water, and the oil content was monitored by fluorescence spectroscopy. Although the walnut shell presented high efficiency (∼94%), STY-DVB was even better (∼100%) besides presenting better mechanical resistance. Moreover, polymeric resins, mainly when based on GMA, can be chemically modified to remove specific contaminants still remaining in water after conventional treatment.

Removal of naphthalene from aqueous systems by poly(divinylbenzene) and poly(methyl methacrylate-divinylbenzene) resins.

Treatment of the oily wastewater from crude oil extraction is a growing challenge due to rising concern for the environment. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) deserve special attention because of their high toxicity. There is a need to develop processes able to minimize the discharge of these compounds and analytic techniques to monitor the levels of PAHs in aqueous media. In this study poly(methyl methacrylate-divinylbenzene) (MMA-DVB) and poly(divinylbenzene) (DVB) were assessed with respect to their capacity to retain naphthalene (NAF) in continuous flow and batch processes (adsorption equilibrium and kinetics). The analytic techniques applied were gas chromatography and spectrofluorimetry, which was adapted for quantification of NAF. The batch adsorption studies showed that DVB is more efficient in adsorption than MMA-DVB, and the Freundlich model and pseudo-second-order model better fitted the equilibrium data and adsorption kinetics, respectively. The elution results showed that both resins are highly efficient in removing NAF, with DVB outperforming MMA-DVB. However, MMA is cheaper raw material, making MMA-DVB more competitive for treatment of oily wastewater. The resins were regenerated by eluting about 7.2 and 2.5 L of methanol:water (70:30 v/v), respectively for DVB and MMA-DVB. Regarding to the useful life after regeneration, the resins presented a reduction about 30%, relating to zero concentration of NAF.

Influence of the hydrotrope structure on the physical chemical properties of polyoxide aqueous solutions.

The physical chemical properties of block substituted poly(ethylene oxide-propylene oxide) (PEO-PPO) block copolymer aqueous solutions were evaluated in the presence of two hydrotropes of different structures: sodium p-toluene sulfonate (NaPTS) and butyl monoglycol sodium sulfonate (NaBMGS). The critical micelle concentration and the cloud point of the copolymer solutions were displaced to higher concentration values, indicating that the solubility of the copolymer was increased in the presence of the hydrotropes. Temperature increased the micelle hydrodynamic radius, but concentration had a limited effect. Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR) permitted the interaction between the surface-active agent and the hydrotrope to be evaluated: NaBMGS, which presented a more pronounced hydrotropic effect, interacts more effectively with the hydrophobic moiety of the surfactant, while NaPTS interacts rather mainly with the hydrophilic oxyethylenic groups. The results furnish experimental evidence to conclude that the hydrotropic phenomenon is specific in relation to both the hydrotrope and the solubilizate.

PLURONIC x TETRONIC polyols: study of their properties and performance in the destabilization of emulsions formed in the petroleum industry.

In this work, a new family of branched poly(ethylene oxide-propylene oxide) (PEO-PPO) block copolymers designed as TETRONIC polyols is evaluated and compared to linear PEO-PPO block copolymers designed as PLURONIC polyols. Additives have been employed as well in order to improve solubility of these materials in aqueous solution. Such additives include the sodium p-toluene sulfonate (NaPTS) hydrotrope and concentrated hydrochloric acid. Solubility tests and aqueous solution surface tension data showed consistent results: the structure of the block PEO-PPO copolymers exerts a huge influence on their solubility in water. The solubility of such copolymers is increased by the presence of the sodium toluene sulfonate (NaPTS) hydrotrope. The presence of HCl caused increased solubility for the copolymer TETRONIC polyol only, the effect being less than that observed for the hydrotrope. It is concluded that as regards emulsion stabilization, TETRONIC copolymer polyols perform better. Correlation between structure and properties leads to the optimization of block PEO-PPO copolymer selection aiming at using these materials for the separation of petroleum industry emulsions.