Aqueous foams stabilized with silica nanoparticle and alpha olefin sulfonates surfactant

Carbon dioxide (CO2) foams have been introduced to improve mobility of CO2 in CO2 flooding. However, using surfactant alone to stabilize CO2 foam has potential weaknesses such as high surfactant retention in porous media and the foam is thermodynamically unstable for a long-term. Nanoparticle has been an alternative in stabilizing CO2 foam longer. This study aims to analyze CO2 foam stability at varying concentrations of surfactant, silica nanoparticle (SNP) and brine. The additions of SNP in anionic surfactant of alpha olefin sulfonates (AOS)-water and in AOS-brine towards foam stability were demonstrated in this study. CO2 foam stability was measured through the foam height observation and bubble size analysis. The performance of SNP and AOS suspensions in stabilizing foam were observed at different concentrations of AOS (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 wt%), SNP (0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 wt%) and brine (0.1, 1 and 5 wt%). The results revealed that the CO2 foams were most stable at 0.3 wt% SNP suspension in 0.5 wt% AOS-water. It was found that the most stable foams formed at concentration of 1 wt% of brine. Smaller and uniform bubble size has been produced at 0.3 wt% SNP in 0.5 wt% AOS solution. Thus, concentrations of surfactant, SNP and brine have significant effects on CO2 foam stability

Potential of polymeric surfactant in stabilizing carbon dioxide foam for enhanced oil recovery

This study investigates the stability of carbon dioxide (CO2) foam generated from water, gas and formulation of Alpha-Olefin Sulfonate (AOS), Betaines and different types of polymeric surfactant. The effects of different types of crude oil on foam stability were also analyzed. It was found that a higher concentration of surfactant provided more stable foam while a finer texture of foam bubbles were observed with addition of Betaines. The addition of Poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether showed the best result as the foam did not degenerate as rapidly as the other polymeric surfactants. The presence of crude oil also affected the foam stability as it went into a steep decline

Properties of biodegradable polymer from terrestrial mushroom for potential enhanced oil recovery

Polymer flooding could enhance the oil recovery by increasing the viscosity of water, thus, improving the mobility control and sweep efficiency. It is essential to explore natural sources of polymer, which is biologically degradable and negligible to environmental risks. This research aims to produce a biodegradable polymer from terrestrial mushroom, analyze the properties of the polymer and investigate the oil recovery from polymer flooding. Polysaccharide biopolymer was extracted from mushroom and characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR), while the polymer viscosity was investigated using an automated microviscometer. The oil recovery tests were conducted at room temperature using a sand pack model. It was found that polymer viscosity increases with increasing polymer concentration and decreases when increase in temperature, salinity, and concentration of divalent ions. The oil recovery tests showed that a higher polymer concentration of 3000 ppm had recovered more oil with an incremental recovery of 25.8% after waterflooding, while a polymer concentration of 1500 pm obtained incremental 22.2% recovery of original oil in place (OOIP). The oil recovery from waterflooding was approximately 25.4 and 24.2% of the OOIP, respectively. Therefore, an environmentally friendly biopolymer was successfully extracted, which is potential for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) application, but it will lose its viscosity performance at certain reservoir conditions

2D-silica ring interactions with alpha olefin sulphonate (AOS) surfactant under AOS/water system using molecular dynamic simulation / Nik Salwani Md Azmi... [et al.]

Molecular dynamic simulation of 2D silica and modified silica ring interaction with water/ alpha olefin sulfonate (AOS) was conducted and the interfacial tension as well as diffusion coefficient was predicted through the analysis. The simulation was performed using Material Studio software by assuming the silica nanoparticles as a 2D structure that represents a ring-like shape. The modified 2D silica ring was attached to hexyl-trimethoxysilane (HTMS) to create more hydrophobic structure on the silica surface. The analysis of the mean square displacement (MSD) shows that the diffusion of AOS molecules in the system with modified 2D silica ring were higher than unmodified silica ring which were 0.3099 Å2 /ps and 0.2891 Å2 /ps, respectively. The surface tension for the system after 100 ps with modified 2D silica ring was also lower than surface tension for unmodified silica ring which were 1.80x1010 GPa and 2.39x1010 GPa, respectively

Utilization of Agarwood Distillation Waste in Oilwell Cement and Its Effect on Free Water and Porosity

The intent of this research is to utilize the waste produced by distillation process of Agarwood oil and convert it into a profitable oilwell cement additive. Common problem during oilwell cementing is free wáter separation. This problem could weaken cement at the top, gas migration problem and non uniform density of cement slurry that are even worst in cementing deviated well. Another concern on cementing design is the porosity of the hardened cement. If the cement is too porous, it can lead to gas migration and casing corrosion. All tests were conducted according to API Specification-10B. Free water test was determined at different concentrations of Agarwood Waste Additive (AWA), different inclination angles and different temperatures. Based on the findings, it was observed that zero free water was produced when 2% BWOC of AWA was used at all angles. The findings also revealed that AWA can maintain good thermal stability as it could maintain zero free water at increased temperature up to 60˚C. The porosity of AWA cement was comparable with standard API neat cement as the porosity did not differ much at 2% BWOC of AWA. Therefore, it can be concluded that the AWA is suitable to be used as an additive in oil well cement (OWC) with 2% BWOC is taken as the optimum concentration

Media and politics: a study among youth in Malaysia

Media have a tendency to shape youth’s opinion on politics and election. The exposure of youth to media is more likely to change their opinions towards political issues that are widely covered in the media. This paper discusses media usage patterns among youth in Malaysia and their particpation in politics and election. A study using focus groups with Malaysian youth was carried out in June 2015. The purpose of the study was to examine how media influence perception of youth in Malaysia in relation to politics and election. Using purposive sampling, the study employed focus group to examine how and why youth use media to understand about politics and election. Findings indicated that youth mostly rely on new rather than traditional media to get updated with political news. Facebook and whatsapp are among the two channels that they mainly utilised to gain information about politics

Adsorption of anionic surfactant on surface of reservoir minerals in alkaline-surfactant-polymer system

Alkaline-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding is significant to the oil and gas industry due to synergistic interaction between alkaline, surfactant and polymer. However, chemical losses due to adsorptions of surfactant and polymer on the rock surface could lead to inefficiency of the process. There are also significant uncertainties on adsorption mechanism when surfactant is flooded with presence of alkaline and polymer. This study highlights the static adsorption tests using anionic sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), hydrolysed polyacrylamide (HPAM) and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) as the surfactant, polymer and alkaline, respectively. Sand particles and kaolinite clay were used as the reservoir minerals. The adsorption tests were conducted at various surfactant concentrations ranging from 50 to 2000 ppm. Sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration was investigated from 0 to 2 wt.%, while the local sand and kaolinite was mixed in surfactant solution at a fixed mass to volume ratio of 1:5. The static adsorption test was conducted by shaking the mixture samples and centrifugation before analysing the supernatant liquid using UV-Visible spectrophotometer. The results showed that the surfactant adsorption was higher on kaolinite compared to sand particle. The higher the salinity, the higher the adsorption of surfactant due to higher ionic strength. The adsorption of SDS surfactant on sand particles and kaolinite was lesser in ASP system compared to the presence of surfactant solution alone. Thus, it can be concluded that the presence of polymer and alkaline in ASP solution have great potential to reduce the surfactant adsorption on both sand particle and kaolinite

Carbon dioxide separation using amine modified zeolite in pressure swing adsorption system

Carbon dioxide (CO2) removal from natural gas attracts more attention than other impurities due to its corrosiveness property and it also possess no heating value in the sales natural gas. Amine based chemical absorption has been used commercially for CO2 separation in gas processing plant. However, the liquid amine based processes pose operating difficulties due to high regeneration energy, large equipments size and solvent leakage. This research studies modification of porous materials, zeolite NaY by grafting amine functional group using monoethanolamine directly to the surface of the solid sorbents. The structures and physical properties of amine modified adsorbent were characterized using powder X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption at 77K and thermogravimetric analysis. Since application of Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) has been widely used in various plants in the world, this research was extended to study carbon dioxide separation using amine modified adsorbents in PSA experimental system. Effects of adsorption and regeneration behaviour on CO2 separation were investigated. Amine modified NaY showed better result compared to unmodified NaY in term of improvement in physical and chemical properties, high CO2 adsorption capacity and modified adsorbents were ease of regeneration

Agarwood Waste as A New Fluid Loss Control Agent in Water-based Drilling Fluid

Agarwood has been used widely in various ways, including traditional medicine and art. The usage of agarwood has grown broader in modern times include in therapeutic medicines and perfumery. In this paper the agarwood waste has been explored to be used as a fluid loss control agent to control fluid loss without affecting the drilling fluid rheological properties which are density, pH, viscosity, yield point and gel strength. Agarwood waste was used as an additive in the drilling fluid system due to its unique characteristic. Rheological and filtration measurements were performed on the formulated water-based drilling fluid. Formulations of a base solution of fresh water, sodium hydroxide, bentonite, barite, and xanthan gum were presented. The performance of the agarwood waste as the fluid loss control agent was compared with based fluid formulation and water-based drilling fluid with treating with conventional fluid loss control agent (starch). The filtrate volume of drilling fluid with agarwood waste was about 13 ml while for drilling fluid with conventional fluid loss control agent, starch gave 12 ml of filtrate volume after undergoing filtration test by using LPLT filter press. The performance of drilling fluid with agarwood was efficient as drilling fluid with starch. Doi: 10.12777/ijse.5.2.101-105 How to cite this article: Azizi, A., Ibrahim, M.S.N., Hamid, K.H.K., Sauki, A., Ghazali, N.A., Mohd, T.A.T. (2013). Agarwood Waste as A New Fluid Loss Control Agent in Water-based Drilling Fluid. International Journal of Science and Engineering, 5(2),101-105. Doi: 10.12777/ijse.5.2.101-105

Evaluation of polymer properties for potential selection in enhanced oil recovery

his study analyzes the rheological properties of polymer under various shear rate, polymer concentration and molecular weight, temperature, salinity and divalent for potential Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) application. The polymers used were Xantham Gum (XG), Guar Gu m (GG), Arabic Gum (AG), Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PP) and Partial Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide (HPAM). Fann, Gr ace Instrument and Brookfield viscometers were employed for viscosity measurement. The result s recommended GG, AG and PP based on their shear thickening behaviour, XG and HPAM for their high molecular weight, PP and AG for their ability to withstand high temperature and salinity c ondition, and GG, PP and AG in high divalent concentration