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The construction of pseudo-Janus silica/surfactant assembly and their application to stabilize Pickering emulsions and enhance oil recovery

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Abstract

Nanoparticles with high surface energy and chemical activity have drawn substantial attention in petroleum industry. Recently, Janus nanoparticles exhibited tremendous potential in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) due to their asymmetric structures and properties. In this study, a series of amphiphilic pseudo-Janus@OTAB (PJ@C18) nanoparticles with different concentrations of stearyltrimethylammoium bromide (OTAB) were successfully fabricated. The structures and properties of PJ@C18 were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ζ-potential measurements. Based on the emulsification experimental results, the interaction models and the self-assembly behavior between hydrophilic nanoparticles (SiO2@NH2) and OTAB molecules at the oil/water interface were proposed, which was further confirmed via the measurements of the contact angle and dynamic interfacial tension. Interestingly, it was found that the change of pH value from 7.5 to 4.0 caused the type reversal of the PJ@C18-1000 stabilized Pickering emulsions. Furthermore, the PJ@C18-1000 stabilized Pickering emulsion system with excellent salt and temperature tolerances (10000 mg·L−1, 90 °C) significantly improved the oil recovery in the single-tube (more than 17%) and double-tube (more than 25%) sand pack model flooding tests. The findings of this study could help to better understand the construction mechanism of pseudo-Janus silica/surfactant assembly and the potential application of PJ@C18-1000 stabilized Pickering emulsions for EOR.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51974344), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Provincial (Grant No. ZR2019MEE077), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 19CX02064A).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong Key Laboratory of Oilfield Chemistry, School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China

    Han Jia, Jiajun Dai, Jianan Wang, Lin Song, Kaihe Lv & Dexin Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (China University of Petroleum (East China)), Ministry of Education, Qingdao, 266580, China

    Han Jia, Jiajun Dai, Jianan Wang, Lin Song, Kaihe Lv & Dexin Liu

  3. Technology Inspection Center, Shengli Oilfield Company, SINOPEC, Dongying, 257000, China

    Tingyi Wang, Yingbiao Xu & Lingyu Zhang

  4. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1H9, Canada

    Pan Huang

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  1. Han Jia
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  2. Jiajun Dai
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  5. Lingyu Zhang
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  9. Dexin Liu
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Correspondence to Han Jia or Pan Huang.

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The construction of pseudo-Janus silica/surfactant assembly and their application to stabilize Pickering emulsions and enhance oil recovery

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Jia, H., Dai, J., Wang, T. et al. The construction of pseudo-Janus silica/surfactant assembly and their application to stabilize Pickering emulsions and enhance oil recovery. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 16, 1101–1113 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-021-2095-1

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