The characterisation of the size of copolymer nano-spheres extracted from an o/w emulsion

Nano-spheres emulsion is a complex fluid which can be used for in-depth profile modification in heterogeneous reservoirs. The fluid consists of cross-linked nano-gel particles which are synthesised with the inverse- emulsion polymerisation technique. Due to the small initial size of polymeric particles, they are supposed to propagate deep in reservoir. The growth of the particles happens over time which eventually causes their accumulation in high permeable layers. The subsequently injected water from injection wells is diverted into low permeable layers which have higher oil saturation. As a result of the injection of the fluid, the sweep efficiency of the reservoir improves.

From the description of mechanisms of nano-particles flow in porous media, it is clear that their size is important for practical applications.

This experimental work focuses on the study of the size of particles which are distributed in the emulsion. That makes the measurements of the size of the particles challenging . To achieve our goals, firstly we purified particles from the emulsion and later measured their size with dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy.

Finally, the change in the size distribution curves and average size of particles were obtained. The forecast of their dynamic was obtained with the population balance model.