Imbibition characteristics of sandstone cores with different permeabilities in nanofluids

The core imbibition and shifting nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging experiment has loss of surface oil phase and air adsorption, which will affect the accuracy of the experiment result. To solve this issue, a modified experiment method, in-situ imbibition NMR method has been worked out. This method was used to carry out sandstone core imbibition experiment in nanofluid, and the oil migration images in the entire process were recorded. In combination with physical properties of the sandstone cores and the variations of the driving force during the imbibition process, imbibition characteristics of the sandstone cores with different permeabilities in nanofluid were analyzed. The results show that: the nanofluid can greatly reduce the interfacial tension of oil phase and improve the efficiency of imbibition and oil discharge, the higher the concentration, the lower the interfacial tension and the higher the efficiency of imbibition and oil discharge would be, but when the concentration reaches a certain value, the increase in imbibition and oil discharge efficiency slows down; the rise of temperature can reduce the oil viscosity resistance and interfacial tension, and hence enhance the imbibition and oil discharge rate; when the sandstone core is higher in permeability, the bottom crude oil would migrate upward and discharge during the imbibition, the higher the permeability of the sandstone core, the more obvious this phenomenon would be, and the phenomenon is shown as top oil discharge characteristic; when the sandstone core is low in permeability, the crude oil in the outer layer of the sandstone core would discharge first during the imbibition, then crude oil in the inside of the core would disperse outside and discharge, which is shown as oil discharge characteristic around the core; but under long time effect of nanofluid, the core would become more and more water-wet and reduce in the oil-water interfacial tension, so would have top oil discharge characteristic in the later stage of imbibition.

Automated summary

The study investigated the impact of nanofluids on the imbibition characteristics of sandstone cores, demonstrating that nanofluids can significantly reduce the interfacial tension between the oil phase and water phase, thereby enhancing imbibition and oil discharge efficiency. Results also showed that increasing temperature can accelerate the imbibition and oil discharge rate, while the permeability of sandstone cores plays a significant role in determining the location of oil discharge during the imbibition process.