Page 229 - Formation Damage during Improved Oil Recovery Fundamentals and Applications

Using Nanofluids to Control Fines Migration in Porous Systems 203

Figure 4.14 Changes of inlet-outlet pressure drop in radial flow system at different
time (Yuan and Moghanloo, 2018c).

formation damage can be characterized by the increase of injection pres-
sure loss as waterflooding continues. The existence of nanofluid to con-
trol fines migration can help mitigate the formation damage caused by
fines migration. The mitigation of injection pressure loss would bring
benefits to the management of the water injection surface facilities, lead-
ing to more cost-effective and profitable projects.

4.6 COMBINED NANOFLUIDS WITH LOW-SALINITY
WATERFLOODING
During low-salinity waterflooding, the problems of fines migration
induced by chemical environments of low-salinity fluids have aroused
great debate. On the one hand, fines migration may carry small amounts
of residual oil through the detachment of oil-coated particles from rock
grains, i.e., improve the displacement efficiency (Aksulu et al., 2012;
Bernard, 1967). In addition, the reduction of local water-phase effective
permeability in water-swept areas caused by the blockage of mobile fines
can also provide mobility-control to enhance the sweep efficiency
(Lemon, 2011; Zeinijahromi et al., 2011, 2012, 2013).On the other, fines