2026/5/10

Ehsan Jafarbeigi

Academic rank: Assistant Professor
ORCID: Link
Education: PhD.
ResearchGate: Link
Faculty: Engineering
ScholarId: Link
E-mail: e.jafarbigi [at] ilam.ac.ir
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Research

Title
An experimental investigation of rock wettability alteration, asphaltene molecular stability, and enhanced oil recovery using a new nanofluid
Type
JournalPaper
Keywords
Nanoparticles, Interfacial tension, Asphaltene stability, Wettability alteration, Enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
Year
2026
Journal Colloid and Interface Science Communications
DOI
Researchers Ehsan Jafarbeigi ، Eghbal Sahraei ، Khaled Maroufi

Abstract

This study aims to present a novel nano-fluid for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) that simultaneously addresses two critical challenges: unfavorable rock wettability and asphaltene instability. The novelty of this work lies in the dual-functional design of novel nano-fluid, which not only maximizes oil displacement through wettability and interfacial tension (IFT) modification but also ensures long-term reservoir integrity by stabilizing asphaltenes. In this regard, a comprehensive experimental methodology was adopted, including stability assessments, contact angle and IFT measurements, asphaltene precipitation analysis, and core flooding experiments under simulated reservoir conditions. The results demonstrated that nanofluid significantly alters rock wettability from an oil-wet state (152◦) to a strongly water-wet state (27◦), while reducing IFT from 19.24 to 1.10 mN/m. Moreover, the nano-fluid effectively inhibits asphaltene precipitation, achieving a minimum asphaltene content of 0.55% in the presence of rock particles.