Experimental Study of SDS Foam Stability in the Presence of Silica Nanoparticle

Abstract

In this study, the effect of silica nanoparticles on the stability of foams that are stabilized with sodium dodecyl sulfate anionic surfactant was investigated. This surfactant can significantly increase the stability of the foam by reducing the surface tension. For experiments, first, the stability of the foam obtained from this surfactant in the presence of deionized water and then in the presence of NaCl solution and seawater were investigated. Then, by changing the salinity of NaCl solution and seawater, a change in the stability of the resulting foams was investigated, and the results were reported. The effect of the simultaneous presence of different concentrations of silica nanoparticles in the above solutions was investigated, and stability results were reported. According to the experimental results, the amount of foaming and the half-life of foam in the presence of deionized water is equal to 201 minutes, but the addition of brine reduces this amount. The presence of nanoparticles increases stability. In the presence of deionized water and surfactant, it reaches more than 280 minutes. Finally, the surface tension changes in the optimal concentration of the surfactant in exchange for the change in the concentration of nanoparticles were investigated. In the optimal concentration of surfactant and NaCl solution, the surface tension decreased to 21 mN/m.

Keywords

• surfactant
• foam injection
• stability
• enhanced oil recovery
• salt