Wettability, Interfacial Tension (IFT) and

Viscosity Alteration of Nanofluids Under

Electromagnetic (EM) Waves
for Enhanced Oil Recovery (IFT)
Applications

Keanchuan Lee, Muhammad Adil, Hasnah Mohd. Zaid, Beh Hoe Guan,
Hassan Soleimani and Martin Weis

Abstract Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared and synthesized via
sol-gel method, by using citric acid as a precursor. The annealing temperatures were
500 and 800 °C which yielded average particle sizes of 56 and 117 nm, respectively.
ZnO nanofluids of two different particle sizes (56 and 117 nm) were prepared using
0.1 wt% nanoparticles that were dispersed into brine (3 wt% NaCl) along with SDBS
as dispersant. The impact of EM waves on wettability, viscosity and IFT of nanofluid
was investigated. Results showed further reduction in wettability under EM influence
with increased viscosity and reduced IFT. These results reveal a potential way to
employ water-based ZnO nanofluids for enhanced oil recovery purposes at a relatively
high reservoir temperature.

Keywords Nanofluid · EM waves · Wettability · Viscosity · IFT

K. Lee (B) · M. Adil · H. Mohd. Zaid · B. H. Guan · H. Soleimani

Fundamental and Applied Sciences Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS,
32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
e-mail: lee.kc@utp.edu.my
M. Adil
e-mail: MuhammadAdil86@hotmail.com
H. Mohd. Zaid
e-mail: hasnamz@utp.edu.my
B. H. Guan
e-mail: beh.hoeguan@utp.edu.my
H. Soleimani
e-mail: hassan.soleimani@utp.edu.my
M. Weis
Organic Electronics Lab, Institute of Electronics and Photonics,
Slovak University of Technology, Ilkovicova 3, 81219 Bratislava, Slovakia
e-mail: martin.weis@stuba.sk

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019 305

A. Öchsner and H. Altenbach (eds.), Engineering Design Applications,
Advanced Structured Materials 92, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-79005-3_21
306 K. Lee et al.

1 Introduction

Nanotechnology has developed rapidly in decades. Scientists and researchers focus

on this field since a lot of finding showed that nanotechnology can provide alternatives
and solutions to various kinds of problems encountered in research. Nanotechnology
is the science of materials in a range very close to molecular dimensions (1–100 nm)
which has changed our viewpoint in many scientific aspects and has shown novel
solutions for unsolved old problems found in previous technologies [1–9]. Therefore,
nanotechnology is beneficial to humankind.
Wettability plays a main role in oil recovery [1–5] where in general water wet
rocks will show better recovery efficiency compared to those oil wet rocks. However,
several studies also showed that intermediate wet formation, i.e. oil and water mix-
ture, showed even better recovery. In order to alter the wettability, metal oxide NPs
might be good candidates. It has been reported that various metal oxide NPs have
been used to improve the oil recovery [6, 7]. Results showed the size of the particles
might have direct impact on the recovery efficiency due to the change of viscosity,
surface tension etc.
NPs have the ability to change certain factors in the formation and in oil properties
and have been developed to promote wettability alteration, reduction of viscosity
ratio, stabilization of foam or emulsion and interfacial tension reduction—in some
cases involving application of an external electric or magnetic field. With these, EOR
application will be getting better and the production of hydrocarbon can be increased.
By injecting a nanofluid into formations and studying its effects on oil recovery, oil
and gas Industry can get a lot of benefits if the idea is proven. According to Ogolo
et al. [10], some selected types of nanoparticles that are likely to be used include
oxides of aluminium, zinc, magnesium, iron, zirconium, nickel, tin and silicon. Here,
the authors would like to focus on the study regarding nanoparticles and nanofluid
of zinc oxide (ZnO).
Current surfactant and chemicals use in EOR is not really compatible with High
Pressure and High Temperature (HPHT) condition. Therefore, more studies need
to be conducted in order to check the stability of the nanoparticles under HTHP
condition. In this study, we will not go for compatibility studies of ZnO nanopar-
ticle in HTHP condition but we believe that this study will create possibilities for
nanoparticles and nanofluids to be used in EOR. In this study, laboratory experi-
ments were designed to establish the relationship between governing parameters and
EM-assisted oil recovery due to nanofluids. The crude oil/brine/rock (COBR) inter-
action was observed using contact angle on quartz plates, which were used as the
solid-phase, to reveal the possible oil displacement mechanism under EM waves. In
addition, fluid-fluid interactions (oil/brine/nanofluid) were evaluated using interfacial
tension results, along with viscosity ratio between nanofluids and crude oil.
Wettability, Interfacial Tension (IFT) … 307

2 Methodology

ZnO NPs were synthesized using sol-gel auto-combustion method [11, 12], and
were used after calcining at 500 and 800 °C having an average particle size of 56 and
117 nm, respectively. In this paper, these particles were denoted as ZnO@500 and
ZnO@800, respectively. The analytical grade of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate
(SDBS) from Sigma Aldrich was used as stabilizer, without further purification.
Deionized water (with σ  18 M) was used as a solvent. Sodium chloride (NaCl)
obtained from Fisher Scientific, was employed as salt to prepare brine of a concentra-
tion of 30,000 ppm (equivalent to sea water concentration). The pH value of system
was adjusted with hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution
by precise pH meter (Mettler Toledo, FE20-Basic).
The NPs were dispersed in brine as the base fluid and magnetically stirred for
1 h to produce nanoparticles suspension. Then, the appropriate amount of sodium
dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) was added to the suspensions. These suspensions
were agitated in an ultrasonic bath at ambient temperature for an optimum period, to
attain the required concentration of nanofluids. The anionic surfactant, SDBS, was
chosen as a stabilizer based on our previous stability tests; where the surfactant con-
centrations were selected using critical micelle concentration (CMC) determination
methods. The pH value of the system was also adjusted by using HCl and NaOH solu-
tion in order to improve the quality of dispersion. These pH values were monitored by
precise pH meter (FE20-Basic) from Mettler Toledo. After the samples are prepared,
viscosity and density tests were carried out to check the viscosity and density for
each sample. The IFT was measured by using a Dataphysics Surface Tensiometer.
The wettabliity was investigate in terms of contact angle measurement. The above
measurements were carried out at ambient condition and under EM waves. The EM
field was generated at a designed frequency of 18.8 MHz, and a fixed voltage of
3.5 V.

3 Results and Discussions

Table 1 depicts fluid properties measurement of brine, crude oil and 0.1 wt% ZnO
nanofluid concentration at ambient condition and under EM waves. We can observe
that the viscosity increases when NPs are introduced into the solution. The viscosity
of the nanofluid is further enhanced from 1.05 to 1.10 cP for ZnO@500 NF and
1.07 to 1.14 cP for ZnO@800 NF when under EM waves. Dielectrics (such as
ZnO, Al2 O3 ) are of great interest as metal oxides for EEOR application due to their
high dielectric loss that render the particles as the surface-active agent [13]. The
surface-active agents suspended in a liquid undergo polarization when an external
electric field is applied, providing the possible oil recovery mechanism including
(i) the deformation of oil droplet which increases the surface area for more particles’
adsorption and consequently to a reduction in interfacial tension; (ii) the increment in
308 K. Lee et al.

Table 1 Fluid properties at ambient condition and under EM waves

Fluid Density (g/cm3 ) Viscosity (cP)
Brine, NaCl 3 wt% 1.0197 1.01
Crude oil 0.8021 7.50
SDBS 0.025 wt% 1.0194 1.02
ZnO@500 NF 1.0204 1.05
ZnO@800 NF 1.0205 1.07
ZnO@500 NF (with EM) 1.0204 1.10
ZnO@800 NF (with EM) 1.0205 1.14

Fig. 1 Interfacial tension

and contact angle
measurement for crude oil
against brine and 0.025 wt%
SDBS at ambient condition

rate of wettability alteration which lead to an increase in surface free energy; (iii) the
improvement of mobility ratio due to electro rheological effect (ER) which increases
the viscosity of nanofluids.
In addition, high temperature leads to the reduction of oil viscosity. This leads to
the decrease in viscosity ratio (at 10 s−1 ) of oil and nanofluids from 3.73 to 2.13 and
3.28 to 2.1 for ZnO@500 and ZnO@800, respectively; since ZnO NFs are proven
to be relatively stable at high temperature [14]. This ultimately reduced the mobility
ratio which will divert injected NFs into unswept areas, and consequently resulting
in a favorable oil recovery.
Figure 1 shows the reduction of interfacial tension between crude oil and surfactant
solution, along with wettability alteration at room temperature. However, at high
temperature SDBS tends to degrade [15] which reduces the interaction between the
surfactant and crude oil. Consequently, this reduced the oil recovery.
In Fig. 2, the introduction of NPs into the fluid leads to higher contact angle
compared to the one only with SDBS. The contact angle is further increased when
the fluid is under EM waves. The increment in contact angle under EM waves can
Wettability, Interfacial Tension (IFT) … 309

Fig. 2 Interfacial tension and contact angle measurement for crude oil against ZnO NFs/SDBS
under EM waves

be explained by different mechanism as follows: (1) the dielectric polarization of

nanoparticles causes the shape of oil drops to deform which increases the surface area
for more particles’ adsorption, and consequently to a reduction in interfacial tension
(Fig. 2); (2) the rate of wettability alteration increases, leading to an increase in surface
free energy (Fig. 2); (3) the improvement of mobility ratio, due to electrorheological
effect (ER) which increases the viscosity of ZnO nanofluids. However, the increasing
particle size (i.e. ZnO@800) will decrease will result in lower contact angle, viscosity
and IFT [16–19]. This will decrease the incremental oil recovery.
It is suspected that incremental oil at high temperature was recovered not only
due to the decreased mobility ratio, but also the decrement in IFT with increasing
temperature since the molecular interactions between the liquids are weaker. Another
possibility is the intensity of Brownian movement increases with the temperature of
the medium and with the reduction of its viscosity and the particle size. Since Brown-
ian motions might be one of energies that drive oil displacement due to nanoparticles,
the force will increase. Overall, the combination of ZnO NPs and dispersant (Nano-
EOR) seems greatly promising in higher temperature, e.g. reservoir temperature.

4 Conclusion

A comprehensive study on effects of ZnO NPs on fluid properties with and without
EM has been demonstrated. Relationship between the IFT (crude oil/NF), contact
310 K. Lee et al.

angle (NF/quartz), viscosity ratio (crude oil/NF), were investigated to determine the
possible oil recovery mechanism. It was observed that the oil displacement mech-
anism is dependent on particle size of ZnO NFs, where the IFT and contact angle
decreases with the decrease in particle size. This can be the reason of larger distur-
bance in interface due to bigger particle size under orientational polarization, provid-
ing a noticeable reduction in IFT from 13.38 to 11.60 mN/m. Overall these results
reveal a novel way to use water-based ZnO nanofluids for enhanced oil recovery
purposed at a relatively high reservoir temperature.

Acknowledgements A part of this work was financially supported by YUTP (Grant No. 0153AA-
E17) from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS Malaysia.

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