Impact Of Nanoparticles On Reversible Emulsions

Emulsions generally have been applied in the various stages of petroleum production processes.In the exploration of shale reserves,the issue of shale instability is one of the major problem encountered when drilling through shales.Emulsions in drilling fluids have provided the oil and gas industry with a good alternative over oil-based muds,which are tagged with adverse environmental effect.The industry has focused on the further development of the emulsions using stimuli-responsive emulsifier and nanoparticles in generating highly stabilized emulsions.Formation process,phase inversion,stability,thermal stability and salinity stability are crucial for the application of reversible emulsions in adverse environmental conditions.In this work,the impact of nanoparticles was evaluated on the above-listed properties and also the underlying mechanism was examined.Also,an adsorption study existing between the emulsifier and the nanoparticles was evaluated.It was found out that the emulsification process of the emulsion is highly dependent on the level of surfaces activity on the nanoparticles.The concentration of the nanoparticles had an effect on the properties such as the long-term stability.Also,the nanoparticles concentration had an impact on the salinity stability but it is dependent on the kind of electrolytes.Finally,increasing the concentration of the nanoparticles had no noticeable effect on the phase inversion mechanism.Optical microscopy,scanning electron microscopy,emulsions standing test and UV-spectrophotometry were used to evaluate the impact of the nanoparticles on the properties of the reversible emulsion.