Long term stability of mesoporous nano-capsules of cationic surfactant at high temperature and salinity conditions
A method for stabilizing mesoporous materials includes providing a suspension including a mesoporous particle, wherein the mesoporous particle includes an encapsulated surfactant; contacting the suspension with a solution including ring-opened GLYMO at a temperature ranging from 40 to 80° C. and at a pH ranging from 8 to 11 to form a surface modified mesoporous particle, and contacting the surface modified mesoporous particle with a zwitterionic surfactant solution to form a stabilized mesoporous material. A wellbore fluid composition includes an aqueous base fluid and the mesoporous materials. A method for treating a hydrocarbon-bearing formation includes introducing into a hydrocarbon-bearing formation a wellbore fluid composition including an aqueous base fluid and mesoporous materials, displacing hydrocarbons from the formation by contacting the hydrocarbons with the wellbore fluid composition, and recovering the hydrocarbons.
1 . A method for stabilizing mesoporous materials comprising:
providing a suspension comprising a mesoporous particle, wherein the mesoporous particle comprises an encapsulated surfactant;
contacting the suspension with a solution comprising ring-opened 3-(glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GLYMO) at a temperature ranging from 40 to 80° C. and at a pH ranging from 8 to 11 to form a surface modified mesoporous particle; and
contacting the surface modified mesoporous particle with a zwitterionic surfactant solution to form a stabilized mesoporous material.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the contacting the surface modified mesoporous particle with a zwitterionic surfactant solution comprises:
sonicating at a temperature of 40° C.-80° C. for 20 minutes to 1 hour.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the zwitterionic surfactant solution comprises:
a zwitterionic surfactant present at a concentration ranging from 0.01 g/mL to 1 g/mL.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the encapsulated surfactant is a cationic or anionic surfactant.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the cationic surfactant is selected from the group consisting of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, cetyltrimethylammonium chloride, octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride, hexadecylpyridinium bromide, didodecyldimethylammonium bromide, dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide, and N,N-dimethyl-N-octadecyl-N-benzylammonium chloride.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the stabilized mesoporous materials have an average particle diameter ranging from 5 nm to 500 nm.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mesoporous particle is MCM-41.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the zwitterionic surfactant solution comprises cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the solution comprising the ring-opened GLYMO includes GLYMO at a concentration ranges from 9 to 10 μmol/mL.
10 . A wellbore fluid composition comprising:
an aqueous base fluid, and mesoporous materials comprising an encapsulated surfactant and 3-(glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GLYMO) as a surface functionality;
wherein the mesoporous materials are formed by treating the mesoporous materials with a zwitterionic surfactant.
11 . The wellbore fluid composition of claim 10 , wherein the encapsulated surfactant is a cationic surfactant or an anionic surfactant.
12 . The wellbore fluid composition of claim 11 , wherein the cationic surfactant selected from the group consisting of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, cetyltrimethylammonium chloride, octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride, hexadecylpyridinium bromide, didodecyldimethylammonium bromide, dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide, and N,N-dimethyl-N-octadecyl-N-benzylammonium chloride.
13 . The wellbore fluid composition of claim 10 , wherein the zwitterionic surfactant is cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine.
14 . The wellbore fluid composition of claim 10 , wherein the mesoporous materials have an average particle diameter ranging from 5 nm to 500 nm.
15 . The wellbore fluid composition of claim 10 , wherein the mesoporous material is MCM-41.
16 . A method for treating a hydrocarbon-bearing formation comprising:
introducing into a hydrocarbon-bearing formation a wellbore fluid composition comprising an aqueous base fluid and mesoporous materials, wherein the mesoporous materials comprise an encapsulated cationic surfactant and 3-(glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GLYMO) as a surface functionality;
displacing hydrocarbons from the hydrocarbon-bearing formation by contacting the hydrocarbons with the wellbore fluid composition; and
recovering the hydrocarbons from the hydrocarbon-bearing formation,
wherein the mesoporous materials are formed by treating the mesoporous materials with a zwitterionic surfactant.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the mesoporous material is MCM-41 surface-functionalized by GLYMO.
18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the mesoporous materials have an average particle diameter ranging from 5 nm to 500 nm.
19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the zwitterionic surfactant is cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine.
20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the encapsulated surfactant is a cationic or anionic surfactant, wherein the cationic surfactant is selected from the group consisting of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, cetyltrimethylammonium chloride, octadecyltrimethylammonium chloride, hexadecylpyridinium bromide, didodecyldimethylammonium bromide, dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide, and N,N-dimethyl-N-octadecyl-N-benzylammonium chloride; and the anionic surfactant is selected from the group consisting of sodium dodecyl sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, and dioctyl sulfosuccinate sodium.