Nanofluid flooding in porous medium for enhanced oil recovery.

Advanced methods are essential for efficient enhanced oil recovery (EOR). One such technique is utilizing nanofluid (NF) flooding, which has shown promising results in increasing oil recovery. This study employed a two-phase fluid flow to simulate nanofluid flooding into a two-dimensional porous medium for extracting oil. This proposed model offered a cost-effective approach to investigating EOR using different nanoparticles (NPs) (SiO2, Al2O3, and CuO) and integrated the thermophysical property correlations of the NF to the relative permeability and NP mass transport equations. The impact of different nanoparticle types on EOR was assessed, and the effect of inlet temperatures (300 K and 350 K) on EOR using NF flooding was modeled by comparing three types of NPs. Findings indicated that adding NPs at a volume fraction of 5% to the base fluid resulted in an ORF increase of more than 18%, while changes in the viscosity and density of the oil due to the rise in the inlet temperature improved EOR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]