Synthesis and stability of switchable CO2-responsive foaming coupled with nanoparticles
Songyan Li,
Shaopeng Li,
Kexin Du,
Jianzhong Zhu,
Liying Shang,
Kaiqiang Zhang
Affiliations
Songyan Li
Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (China University of Petroleum (East China)), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266580, P. R. China; School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, P. R. China; Corresponding author
Shaopeng Li
School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, P. R. China
Kexin Du
School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, P. R. China
Jianzhong Zhu
School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, P. R. China
Liying Shang
Engineering Technology Branch, CNOOC Energy Development Co., Ltd, Tianjin 300452, P. R. China
Kaiqiang Zhang
Institute of Energy, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P. R. China; Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK; Corresponding author
Summary: CO2-responsive foaming has been drawing huge attention due to its unique switching characteristics in academic research and industrial practices, whereas its stability remains questionable for further applications. In this paper, a new CO2-switchable foam was synthesized by adding the preferably selected hydrophilic nanoparticle N20 into the foaming agent C12A, through a series of analytical experiments. Overall, the synergy between cationic surfactants and nanoparticles with a contact angle of 37.83° is the best. More specifically, after adding 1.5 wt% N20, the half-life of foam is 14 times longer than that of pure C12A foam. What’s more, the C12A-N20 solution is validated to own distinctive CO2-N2 switching features because very slight foaming degradations are observed in terms of the foaming volume and half-life time even after three cycles of CO2-N2 injections. This study is of paramount importance pertaining to future CO2 foam research and applications in energy and environmental practices.
