Rheological Characterization and Enhanced Oil Recovery Performance of Plant-Derived Biopolymers and Nanoparticles

Abstract

Enhanced oil recovery is a technique mostly used to increase oil production from mature oil fields. This is achieved by altering reservoir and/ or fluid properties. There is a quest globally to meet the ever-increasing demand for hydrocarbons in a safe and environmentally friendly way. The aim of this study is to ascertain the potential of locally available environment-friendly plant leaf extract as a green polymer for enhanced oil recovery. This research evaluates rheological behavior and oil recovery performance of biopolymers extracted from plant leaves: Thevetia peruviana, Physalis angulata, and Solanum tuberosum, benchmarks them against commercial xanthan gum, and assesses their performance with silica oxide and aluminum oxide nanoparticles. A core flooding experiment was conducted with core samples from a Niger Delta reservoir. The rheological properties of the leaf extracts were determined with a Fann 35 rheometer. The results from the core flooding experiment showed that Xanthan gum without nanoparticles had 40% oil recovery; Thevetia peruviana had 26%; Physalis angulata had 18%; and potato leaf had 10%. Combining with a nanoparticle gives an additional 6% increase in oil production for xanthan gum. A combination of nanoparticles with Thevetia peruviana increased oil production by an additional 4%. Rheological characterization using Power Law, Herschel-Bulkley, and Bingham models shows that all plant leaf extracts exhibit shear thinning behavior indices of n of 0.24-0.34, comparable to xanthan gum. The findings provide a framework for selecting plant-derived biopolymers for enhanced oil recovery.