Experimental study on rheological properties of nanoparticle-stabilized carbon dioxide foam

摘要

In relationship with the potential application of nanoparticle (NP) foam technology in CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and greenhouse geological storage in tight reservoirs, the rheological properties of the NP-stabilized CO2 foam with surfactant (alpha-olefin sulfonate-AOS) solution were experimentally investigated. The foam was treated as a power-law non-Newtonian fluid, and the relationships between the shear stress and shear rate as well as the apparent viscosity of foam and foam quality were determined under influential parameters including the NP additive, internal gas type, salinity, and oil presence. Critical foam quality values in the range 91-96% were observed for the NP-stabilized foam, whereas no such values were obtained for the corresponding AOS-CO2 foam. The results show the NP-AOS-CO2 foam has lower viscosity compared to the NP-AOS-N2 foam, and the solution salinity decreases the viscosity of the NP-AOS-CO2 foam, whereas oil presence has no obvious effect on the foam viscosity.