Uso de nanopartículas de sílice para la estabilización de finos en lechos empacados de arena Ottawa

To  determine  the  problem  of  fines  migration  on  packed  beds  and  offer a possible solution for this issue, an adsorptive system of packed beds was developed for experimental simulation of fines migration and stabilization by using silica nanoparticles. The adsorbent beds were prepared with Ottawa sand and glass spheres (average radius of 0.53 mm). Three different sand beds were used in the investigation: clean sand (water- wet system), sand submitted to a damage process using an extra-heavy Colombian crude oil (oil-wet system) and sand treated with silica nanoparticles (5-15 nm). Fines suspension was prepared with alumina nanoparticles (50 nm) and distilled water. Results show that beds treated with silica nanoparticles present idealized patterns for the rupture curve, indicating that silica nanoparticles capture and retain fines, decreasing fines migration due to their adsorption capacity.