Date-Leaf Carbon Particles for Green Enhanced Oil Recovery

Area of Science:

• Petroleum Engineering
• Materials Science
• Green Chemistry

Background:

• Green enhanced oil recovery (GEOR) utilizes environmentally friendly fluids to increase oil production.
• Carbon nanomaterials like graphene and CNTs show potential for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) but are costly and not well-established in GEOR.
• Developing sustainable and economical carbon-based agents for GEOR is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel carbon nanoparticles from inexpensive biomass for GEOR applications.
• To investigate the efficacy of date-leaf carbon nanoparticles (DLCNP) in enhancing tertiary oil recovery.
• To explore new green chemical formulations for smart water and biodegradable surfactant flooding.

Main Methods:

• Synthesized carbon nanoparticles from date leaves using pyrolysis and ball-milling.
• Characterized the synthesized date-leaf carbon nanoparticles (DLCNP).
• Conducted core flood experiments with three DLCNP formulations (functionalized and non-functionalized) to evaluate smart water and green chemical flooding potential.

Main Results:

• A carboxylated DLCNP formulation in smart water flooding recovered 9% incremental oil.
• A non-functionalized DLCNP formulation with a biodegradable surfactant and NaCl yielded 18% more tertiary oil compared to CNTs.
• Phase behavior and interfacial tension (IFT) properties guided formulation selection.

Conclusions:

• Date-leaf carbon nanoparticles (DLCNP) offer a sustainable and economical alternative for GEOR.
• Novel green chemical agents and formulations for EOR have been developed.
• This research supports more economical and sustainable oil production through GEOR.