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Synthesis of silica nanoparticles with different morphologies and their effects on enhanced oil recovery

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Abstract

Silica nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized by titration of potassium silicate with hydrochloric acid, characterized and the effects of process parameters on size and morphology have been investigated. The size of the NPs decreased with increasing temperature and potassium silicate concentration. Central composite design (CCD) was applied to systematically determine the most significant factors affecting the particle size and optimize the experimental conditions to achieve minimum particle size. The optimal experimental conditions were obtained at hydrochloric acid concentration of 0.6 M, potassium silicate concentration of 11.85 wt% and temperature of 63.3 °C. SEM images proved that the pH and temperature shifted the NPs to non-spherical morphologies. To identify the effect of NPs morphology on oil recovery, some micromodel tests were conducted using the synthesized NPs with different shapes (0.1 wt%). The results showed that spherical NPs with high uniformity were the most effective in interfacial tension (IFT) reduction (3.66 mN/m) and wettability alteration to more water wet state (47.1% reduction of contact angle) compared to other applied NPs, resulted in highest oil recovery (32%). This was attributed to more homogeneity and better dispersion of spherical NPs compared to others.

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank Iran Nanotechnology Initiative Council (INIC) for the financial support of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Rasoul Khademolhosseini, Arezou Jafari & Mehrdad Manteghian

  2. Biotechnology Group, Chemical Engineering Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi

  3. School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Institute of Petroleum Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Zahra Fakhroueian

Authors
  1. Rasoul Khademolhosseini
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  2. Arezou Jafari
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  3. Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi
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  4. Mehrdad Manteghian
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  5. Zahra Fakhroueian
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Correspondence to Arezou Jafari.

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Khademolhosseini, R., Jafari, A., Mousavi, S.M. et al. Synthesis of silica nanoparticles with different morphologies and their effects on enhanced oil recovery. Appl Nanosci 10, 1105–1114 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-019-01222-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-019-01222-y

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