Hydroxyethyl cellulose-based brine treatment solution for enhanced oil recovery and uses thereof

A method for preparing a Hydroxyethyl Cellulose (HEC) based brine solution, said method comprising:

• preparing a brine solution with a salinity ranging from 35,000 ppm to 85,000 ppm;
• obtaining water-soluble HEC from a biomass, comprising extracting purified cellulose from the biomass and modifying the purified cellulose through hydroxyethylation to obtain the water-soluble HEC;
• mixing the obtained water-soluble HEC with the brine solution to obtain a HEC-brine mixture;
• adding the HEC-brine mixture in an Electrocoagulation Cell (EC) to induce electrochemical reactions,
• wherein air-CO2 mixture is added to the HEC-brine mixture in the EC to induce electrochemical reactions and obtain a foamy HEC-brine solution comprising CO2 absorbed particles and brine salts;
• and
• separating solid by-products from the foamy HEC-brine solution to obtain the HEC based brine solution, wherein the solid by-products comprise CO2-absorbed particles and brine salts.