Chickweed-Derived Natural Surfactants and Nano-TiO₂ for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Carbonate Reservoirs

Subject Areas : New Approches in Environmental and Applied Ecology

Saeid Alamdari ¹ , Moein Nabipour ^{2 *} , Amin Azdarpour ³ , بیژن هنرور ⁴ , Nadia Esfandiari ⁵

1 - Department of Chemical Engineering, Marv. C., Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran
2 - Department of Chemical Engineering, Marv. C., Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran
3 -
4 - دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد مرودشت
5 - Department of Chemical Engineering, Marvdasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran

Received: 2025-09-20 Published : 2025-10-26

Keywords: green surfactant, cheekweed, IFT, contact angle, emulsion, oil recovery factor,

Abstract :

This study investigates the potential of chickweed (Stellaria media)–derived natural surfactants, combined with Nano-TiO₂, for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in carbonate reservoirs. The addition of Nano-TiO₂ further improved stability, IFT reduction, and wettability alteration, benefiting from synergistic interactions between nanoparticles, surfactant molecules, and divalent cations. Foamability studies revealed strong and persistent foaming behavior, indicating additional potential for mobility control. Core flooding experiments confirmed that tertiary injection of chickweed surfactant increased recovery by ~14% OOIP, while the hybrid surfactant–nanoparticle solution achieved ~20% OOIP, outperforming surfactant-only flooding. These results demonstrate that chickweed-derived surfactants, especially in combination with nanoparticles, provide an eco-friendly and effective alternative to synthetic chemicals for EOR applications in challenging carbonate reservoirs.

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