Nanoemulsions
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorsLirio Quintero, David E. Clark, Alexander John McKellar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Nanoemulsions have been discovered to be useful to the oil field. More particularly water-in-oil (W/O), oil-in-water (O/W) and other classes of nanoemulsions have found beneficial application in drilling, completion, well remediation and other oil and gas industry related operations. Additionally, nanoemulsions may reduce friction pressure losses, as well as reduce subsidence of solid weight material during oil and gas operations. New preparation methods for nanoemulsions have also been discovered.
Claims20
A thermodynamically unstable nanoemulsion composition comprising:
- (1) a non-polar based continuous phase,
- (2) a polar based discontinuous phase with a mean droplet size of less than 1000 nm,
- (3) a surfactant, and
- (4) a solid weighting agent.
A thermodynamically unstable nanoemulsion composition comprising:
- (1) a non-polar based continuous phase,
- (2) a polar based discontinuous phase with a mean droplet size of between 400 nm and 700 nm,
- (3) a surfactant, and
- (4) a solid weighting agent selected from the group consisting of barium sulfate, calcium carbonate, hematite, ilmenite, siderite, manganese tetraoxide and combinations thereof.
A method of making a thermodynamically unstable nanoemulsion composition comprising:
- (1) mixing a group of components comprising an oil and a surfactant,
- (2) adding an aqueous salt solution to the result of (1) with mixing,
- (3) mixing the result of (2),
- (4) adding more of the aqueous salt solution to the result of (3) while mixing, and
- (5) mixing the result of (4) to give a thermodynamically unstable nanoemulsion composition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.