The New Reagent Will Increase The Production Of Hard-To-Recover Reserves In The Northern Regions
Silicasol can also be used in metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, paper industry…
Scientists from the Siberian Federal University proposed using silica sol to increase oil recovery. It is a colloidal solution of silicon dioxide in water, obtained from a silicate block. The Devon News Agency learned about this from a message from the Siberian Federal University.
In Russia, the most common technologies for oil extraction are using water, solutions of surfactants, alkalis and solvents. These methods provide a relatively low oil recovery factor in the range of 20–40%.
The reserves remaining in the rock can reach 60–80% of the original proven geological oil reserves. Silica sol significantly increases the wettability of the rock from which oil is extracted.
The substance is introduced into the oil-bearing formation after water and helps displace large amounts of oil that previously remained inaccessible to production. If using water alone you can achieve an oil recovery factor (ORF) of about 7%, then thanks to silica sol nanoparticles you can increase this figure to 40%.
The production intensity increases by almost 6 times compared to conventional flooding technology, when water is injected into the formation. This will allow the extraction of residual reserves of “black gold” from the reservoir. These reserves cannot be recovered using standard industrial methods.
In addition, the productivity of fields will significantly increase, including in the northern fields of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
“We conducted an experiment on capillary impregnation of sandstone samples with silica sol, which is a suspension with silicon nanoparticles,” said Maxim PRYAZHNIKOV, a researcher at the Laboratory of Physical and Chemical Technologies for the Development of Hard-to-Recover Hydrocarbon Reserves at Siberian Federal University.
The scientist noted that the use of silica asols in oil production is a good example of the development of new universal domestic technologies. Thus, in the city of Dzerzhinsk (Nizhny Novgorod region), a large-scale import-substituting production of silica sol is starting to operate.
“RusSilika provided us with samples of silica sol for research,” continued Maxim Pryazhnikov. – We saturated the cores with oil. Some samples were placed in an aqueous environment, while others were placed in silica sol with different concentrations of nanoparticles.”
During the research, scientists could see with the naked eye how much oil was displaced from the rock using this suspension. The fact is that silica sol and oil do not mix, and the boundary between them is very clear.
The use of silica sol does not require sophisticated equipment. It is enough to dilute the concentrate with water right at the field and fill the oil reservoir with it.
Scientists plan to test the substance on rock samples with different porosity and permeability, as well as conduct pilot tests in deposits.
Stable silica sol can be used for the synthesis of hydrocracking catalysts, in the production of transformer steel to impart anti-corrosion properties to metals, as well as to improve paint and varnish products. This compound is also necessary for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, paper, paints, building materials, etc.
