Effect of Nano-Clay Cloisite 20A on water-in-oil stable emulsion flow at different temperatures

In Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) operations, water-in-oil emulsions are often used to ensure good sweep of the crude in the flooding process. Dispersions of 70% water in 30% oil (diesel) were extensively used to move the crude in the porous medium with good results. The present paper is concerned with a study on the influence of Cloisite 20A Nano-Clay particles particularly on the hydrodynamic performance and the stability of water-in-oil emulsions at different temperatures between 25 °C and 45 °C. The experimental results showed that the presence of Cloisite 20A stabilized the water-in-oil emulsions compared to the dispersion without Nano-Clay. It was found that the Nano-Clay concentration affects the emulsion viscosity depending on mainly the water volume fractions. In general, small quantities of the Nano-Clay reduce emulsion viscosity, while higher concentrations of the Nano-Clay resulted in a clear increase of the emulsion viscosity. The results also revealed the percentage of pressure drop reduction at different temperatures as a function of the concentration of Nano-clays, oil/water ratios and emulsion flowrates. The influence of fluid temperature on pressure drop reduction is higher than the influence of Nano-Clay concentration especially at low flowrate.