Investigating the e ect of hybrid silica nanoparticles...

Scientia Iranica F (2017) 24(6), 3466{3475

Sharif University of TechnologyScientia Iranica

Transactions F: Nanotechnologywww.scientiairanica.com

Investigating the e�ect of hybrid silicananoparticles-copolymer on increasing oil recovery in athree dimensional porous media

S. Golshokooha,b, A. Ramazani S.Ac;� and M. Hekmatzadehd

a. National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), Ahvaz, Iran.b. Department of Petroleum Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.c. Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.d. IOR Research Institute, Negar Alley, Valiasr Street, Tehran, Iran.

Received 8 August 2016; received in revised form 27 November 2016; accepted 28 January 2017

KEYWORDS3D-porous media;3D-micro-model;Sulfonated copolymer;Silica nanoparticles;Hybrid;Inherent viscosity;Interfacial tension;Contact angle.

Abstract. In this work, hybrid of silica nanoparticles (NPs) with sulfonated copolymerhas been prepared in order to improve the copolymer properties for Enhanced Oil Recovery(EOR). Some tests are done to �nd the e�ectiveness of injecting uid on Recovery Factor(RF), such as Contact Angle (CA), interfacial tension (IFT), inherent viscosity, andeventually Micro-Model (MM) ooding. In CA test, wettability alteration from Oil-Wet(OW) to Water-Wet (WW) is reached by sedimentation and adsorption of NPs on therock slice. In addition, IFT reduction is obtained by increasing the NaCl concentration.The viscosity change is investigated for the hybrid and copolymer under simulated high-temperature oil reservoir conditions. It is found that silica NPs-copolymer hybrid exhibitsbetter inherent viscosity and thermal stability than copolymer alone does. At MM ooding,more RF and produced oil in Water (O/W) emulsion are obtained from hybrid than frompolymer alone. Hybrid injection results in IFT reduction, increment in viscosity, andO/W emulsion formation that cause enhancement in capillary number (NCa) and RF, and,subsequently, reduction in residual oil saturation. Therefore, NPs-copolymer hybrid couldbe a much better candidate than even high-performance polymer solutions for EOR process.© 2017 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

By production of hydrocarbons from oil reservoirs,the reservoir pressure decreases until oil cannot beproduced spontaneously on the surface. This stageis called \the late second age" or \beginning of thethird age" of the oil reservoir that needs application of

*. Corresponding author.E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Golshokooh);[email protected] (A. Ramazani S.A);[email protected] (M. Hekmatzadeh)

doi: 10.24200/sci.2017.4425

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods to produce theremained oil. Chemical ooding is one of the e�cientEOR methods as a tertiary oil recovery method. In thisstraight, new materials and substances must be used toface complex oil reservoir. Complexity in the reservoirporous media should be considered to predict the realreservoir behaviour. Recently, Golshokooh et al. [1]presented a patent using a new idea for fabrication of anovel porous medium with controllable characteristics.This idea could also be used for fabrication of Micro-Model (MM) with a controllable characteristic thatis applicable in many areas such as petroleum andchemical engineering, and water and pollution studies.

MM is a visual porous medium that signi�es the

S. Golshokooh et al./Scientia Iranica, Transactions F: Nanotechnology 24 (2017) 3466{3475 3467

Recovery Factor (RF) and mechanism of EOR, espe-cially for investigating e�ectiveness of new materialssuch as nanoparticles (NPs) and polymers. Usually twocommon types of MMs are used to ood and investigatethe uid ow into the porous media: laser and chemicalmethods. Laser MM with a CO2 laser machine wasused to construct ow patterns on a glass surface,comprehensively, by Mohammadi et al. [2]. Also, Hek-matzadeh et al. [3,4] studied this kind of MM for water-drive gas reservoirs. Laser MM is easily fabricated withlow price but without uniform geometry of pores andthroats. Chemical MM is di�cult to fabricate withusing hazardous acid (sulfuric) and needs trial anderror to reach the desired pattern. In addition, bothmethods produce high porosity and permeability thatare not similar to actual reservoir media. In this work,from a novel viewpoint, more actual MM is designed.

EOR methods are categorized into two maingroups: water and gas base injection methods. Reser-voir conditions dictate the suitable method based onthe e�ectiveness of the injecting uid and economic as-pect. Possibility of asphaltene precipitation and severe�ngering in fractured reservoirs are the main disadvan-tages of gas injection methods. Among various waterbase injection methods, polymer ooding is the mostwidely used method, which is relatively simple and hasa long history of successful �eld applications [5].

Most of the complex oil �elds face harsh con-ditions, such as high temperature and salinity, thatdestroy common polymers. There are two ways todominate this dilemma; one way is synthesizing novelpolymers. Recently, Shaban et al. [6], Tamsilian etal. [7], and Tamsilian and Ramazani [8] invented newsensitive polymers to salinity and temperature thatovercame the reservoir harsh conditions. The otherway is modi�cation of polymers with NPs additives toavoid time consumption or high cost of new polymersynthesizing. Zhu et al. [9] reported application ofNPs to increase the optical, thermal, magnetic, andelectric properties of polymers. Attempts to �ndadditives for EOR purposes have been made by someresearchers. Hendraningrat and Torsaeter [10] usedpolyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as stabilizer to disperseand stabilize the NPs and decrease the existence ofaggregates. Maghzi et al. [11,12] investigated dispersedsilica NPs into polyacrylamide (PAM) in two typesof laser and chemical MMs. Zhu et al. [9] usedcore ooding test and checked hybridization of sil-ica NPs and Hydrophobically Associating HydrolyzedPolyacrylamide (HAPAM) in high-temperature andhigh-salinity reservoirs. In addition, Yousefvand andJafari [13] showed that by adsorbing of SiO2 NPs onpore walls, the wettability of MM changes to moreWater-Wet (WW), so HPAM results in increasing RF.

In this study, we examine the fumed silica NPswith Sulfonated Polyacrylamide (SPAM) with viscos-

ity, CA, and IFT tests. After that, SiO2 NPs-copolymer hybrid is ooded in a novel MM to �nd theamount of remaining oil in-place.

The appropriate criterion to have a sense of theremaining oil after EOR methods is capillary number(NCa). Nca is the relation between viscous andcapillary forces [14]. Hence, by controlling these forces,the maximum and optimized recovery with minimumresidual oil could be reached. Measurement of viscosity,IFT, emulsion formation of oil-injected uids, and CArepresents the NCa and, subsequently, residual oilschanges, qualitatively.

Therefore, in this research, we �rst describe asuitable method to introduce sulfonated copolymer intosilica NPs suspension to form a hybrid in aqueoussolution. Reported here are the viscosity, IFT, andCA behaviour of these substances at di�erent temper-atures and concentrations. Afterwards, the fabricationmethod of the novel MM will be illustrated. Then,the materials that are injected into the MM in threescenarios of saline water, copolymer, and hybrid arepresented. Finally, we discuss the results and outlinethe conclusions.

2. Materials

This section discusses the used materials in this re-search. First, the applied uids will be illustrated.After that, construction method and structure of thenovel MM applied in this research will be presented.

2.1. FluidsThe uids which are used in this study include sil-ica NPs, sulfonated copolymer, hybrid silica NPs-copolymer, crude oil, and brine solution.

2.1.1. Silica NPsHydrophilic silica NPs with average single particle sizeof 12 nm are used. The NPs are provided from EvonikIndustry and consist of silicon dioxide (SiO2) � 99.8%,aluminum oxide (Al2O3) � 0.05%, titanium dioxide(TiO2) � 0.03%, hydrogen chloride (HCl) � 0.025%,and ferric oxide (Fe2O3) � 0.003%. The more detailedinformation is provided in Table 1.

The hydrophilic silica NPs have been character-ized under Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)that demonstrates the primary particle size of 12 nm(Figure 1). It must be mentioned that the synthesizedproduction of the fumed silica NPs is chain-like andthe only type of silica NPs with primary particle sizeis colloidal silica.

2.1.2. Sulfonated copolymerThe sulfonated copolymer is provided from SNF FLO-ERGER. Table 2 represents some of the technicalproperties of the used sulfonated copolymer in thisstudy.

3468 S. Golshokooh et al./Scientia Iranica, Transactions F: Nanotechnology 24 (2017) 3466{3475

Figure 1. Fumed silica NPs that are characterized underTEM with magni�cation of 200 Kx.

Table 1. Silica NPs characteristics data.

Fumed Silica NPsProperties Unit Typical valueAverage particle size Nm 12

Speci�c surfacearea (BET)

m2/g 200

pH { 3.7{4.7SiO2 Wt.% � 99.8Bulk density g/cc 0.05Appearance { White powderBehavior in thepresence of water

{ Hydrophilic

Table 2. Characteristics of the copolymer.

Polymer DescriptionMolecular

weight(Dalton)

degree

AN132 acrylamide/AMPSbased copolymer

8� 106 32

2.1.3. Hybrid silica NPs-copolymerMixing of polymer with silica NPs can generate \com-posite" or \hybrid" compounds based on the polymertype. Common polymer can result in composite mix-ture only, while copolymers with reactive side chain canlead to a hybrid of organic (polymer)/inorganic (NPs)mixture. In the case of a composite mixing, the �nal

Figure 2. Hybridization of sulfonated copolymer withsilica NPs.

product has the segregated advantages of organic andinorganic materials, but hybrid mixtures can exhibitnew properties not necessarily found in the individualcomponents [15].

In addition to polymerization of the monomer ina suspension of inorganic particles (silica NPs), hy-bridization can also be obtained by swelling and gentlemixing of copolymer with side chain into silica NPssuspension [9]. In this way, we compare two di�erenttypes of mixing of sulfonated copolymer and silica NPsto �nd out which one is more e�ective and resultsin a more powerful network to bear harsh conditionslike high temperature. Two samples with the sameconcentration of 200 ppm sulfonated copolymer and200 ppm SiO2 NPs are prepared. In the �rst sample,powdery polymer is added to nanosuspension and inthe second one, solved polymer is added to the nanosus-pension. For preparation of nanosuspension withvarious salt concentrations, silica NPs are dispersedin brine solution by an ultrasonic probe (amplitude of60% and cycle of 0.5) for 15 minutes. In the case ofpowdery polymer, brine nanosuspension is poured intothe dishes containing polymer samples. After a day,the polymer chain swells and constructs a network withsilica NPs (Figure 2). To have a homogenous hybrid,nano silica and polymer are gently stirred for one daymore.

Based on the �nal products, viscosity of thehybrid that is provided by powdery polymer is morethan that of the solved polymer. The result showsthat the kinematic viscosity of the sample preparedby powdery polymer is 3.03 CentiStock while theviscosity of the sample containing solved polymer is2.76 CentiStock.

2.1.4. Crude oilCrude oil from one of the Iranian southwest oil �eldsis used for all tests. Properties of the crude oil arepresented in Table 3.

2.1.5. Brine solutionBrine solution is prepared synthetically by dissolvingequivalent salinity (NaCl) in deionized water fromthe Persian Gulf (50,000 ppm) and connate water(200,000 ppm) salinity. Other salinities between theaforementioned components are made to trace theresults.


Table 3. Crude oil properties.

Properties atstandard condition(15�C and 1 atm)

Unit Value

Methane Mol.% 0Ethane Mol.% 0.14Propane Mol.% 1.54

Iso-butane Mol.% 1.03Normal-butane Mol.% 3.66

Iso pentane Mol.% 2.66Normal pentane Mol.% 3.6

Hexanes Mol.% 6.38Heptanes & higher Mol.% 80.99

H2S Wt.% 0.5404Density of stock tank oil g/cm3 0.8451

�API | 35.9

2.2. Micro-modelTo fabricate new MM, glass beads or any reservoir rockminerals as porous media grains are used. First, a atglass with 4 mm thickness is selected for the bottomof the MM. Then, four �lms of glass (with arbitrarythickness) are glued on the edge of the at glass tocreate a container to set glass beads and arrange aninlet and outlet to inject and produce uids (Figure 3).After that, another at glass with 2 mm thickness isplaced on the glass �lms to create a closed porousmedium as it is shown in Figure 4. Next, the MMis heated at about 700�C in a furnace for 30 min(retention time) to fuse and give a closed space for ooding.

Some advantages of the novel MM in comparisonwith the previous ones are as follows:

� Capability of utilizing reservoir grains to fabricateporous media;

� Easy fabrication procedure (no need for a lasermachine or any chemical substances);

Figure 3. Flat glass and four �lms for MM fabrication.

Figure 4. Glass beads and 3D MM.

Figure 5. 2D and 3D MM con�gurations.

� Capability of creation of 3D MMs, as it is shown inFigure 5, like 2D ones;

� Fabricating porous media with desired porosity andpermeability;

� Easy cleaning with no �ne migration;� Ability to create a at core ooding to visualize and

study ow mechanisms;� Capability of heterogeneous reservoir construction

with two di�erent grains

The aforementioned novel MM also requires newholder design for uid injection under high-pressureconditions. In new designed holders for novel MM set-up, the restrictions of previous ones are omitted. Inaddition, many advantages including exible design; nolimit for MM thickness, length, and width; and abilityto use several ports in di�erent locations as inlets oroutlets are added (Figure 6).

Characteristics of the 3D MM used in this studyfor various ooding are tabulated in Table 4.

3. Results and discussion

In this section, �rst, the inherent viscosity of hybridsilica NPs and copolymer in comparison with copoly-


Figure 6. MM's holder and accessories.

Table 4. 3D MM characteristics.

Variable Value UnitPorosity 45.44 %

Permeability 2 DarcyLength 5 cmWidth 5 cm

Thickness 0.1 cmGrains 250 Micron

Grain geometry Spherical |Pattern One quarter of 5 spot |

Wettability WW |

Table 5. Inherent viscosity at 35 and 60�C.

Samples Inherent viscosity(dL/g)

35�C 60�CDI Water 1 1Silica NPs 1 1

Sulfonated copolymer 76.9 58.66Hybrid 102.33 100.96

mer alone is discussed for two di�erent temperatures.Then, IFT of silica NPs in various brine salinity isinvestigated. After that, CA of this hybrid with oilis tested in the maximum salinity. Finally, the resultsof MM ooding in three scenarios of saline water,copolymer, and hybrid injection are illustrated.

3.1. Inherent viscosity measurementThe inherent viscosity of copolymer and silica NPs, andtheir hybrids is measured by an Ubbelohde capillaryviscometer. Inherent viscosity is evaluated as theintercept on the ordinate axis of the viscosity plotversus concentration (C) as C trends to zero. Theresults at 35�C and 60�C are summarized in Table 5.

In Figures 7 to 10, vertical axis is inherentviscosity and horizontal axis is four concentrations(100, 200, 300, and 400 ppm) of copolymer and silicaNPs. For hybrid solutions, 500 ppm of silica NPs isadded to these concentrations.

Inherent viscosity of hybrid solutions in Figure 7increases with the addition of 500 ppm silica NPsto copolymer concentrations (100, 200, 300, and400 ppm) and silica NPs-copolymer hybrids exhibitbetter inherent viscosity. It is found that the inherentviscosity increases from 76.9 dL/g to 102.33 dL/g at35�C. Also, by increasing the silica NPs concentration,there is no viscosity improvement and SiO2 NPs playno role in viscosity treatment without copolymer.

Figure 8 shows the inherent viscosities ofcopolymer and its hybrids with silica NPs at 60�C.It is found that in higher temperatures, the hybridis stable; however, copolymer shows a signi�cantdecrease in viscosity from 102.33 dL/g to 100.96 dL/g.

Figure 7. Inherent viscosity of SiO2 NPs, copolymer, andhybrid at 35�C.

Figure 8. Inherent viscosity of SiO2 NPs, copolymer, andhybrid at 60�C.


Figure 9. Inherent viscosity of copolymer at 35 and 60�C.

Figure 10. Inherent viscosity of hybrid at 35 and 60�C.

Figures 9 and 10 compare the thermal stabilityof silica NPs-copolymer hybrid with that of copolymer.As illustrated in these �gures, hybrid of copolymer andsilica has a good thermal stability due to formation ofnetwork between silica NPs and copolymer. AddingSiO2 NPs to copolymer reinforces the viscosity so thatthe inherent viscosities are almost similar to each otherfor hybrids at two di�erent temperatures of 35�C and60�C.

Hence, adding NPs to copolymer not only re-sults in thermal stability, but also causes viscosityimprovement, thus higher NCa, leading to more RF anddecreasing residual oil saturation.

3.2. IFT measurementTors�ter and Abtahi [16] reported that pendant dropis a widely used and accurate method to determine theIFT between two liquids. The method was intended for

Figure 11. IFT between crude oil and silicananosuspension at di�erent salinities.

application to liquid pairs with not too low or too highIFT. Small drops tend to be spherical because surfaceforces depend on area. Principally, one can determinethe IFT from measurements of the drop shape.

The IFT of crude oil in a reservoir is a complexfunction of a wide variety of unknown factors, includingtemperature, pressure, salinity, amount, and type ofhetero-atoms present; acid number, base number, andpH of the aqueous phase; and viscosity, amount ofasphaltenes, and amount of dissolved gases [17].

Kumar [18] performed a general study of the e�ectof salinity on IFT; he showed that the data were sparsewith antithetical trends and an increase or decreasein IFT with salt addition might occur. We measureIFT at room condition between crude oil and silicaNPs with di�erent concentrations in Persian Gulf andconnate water equivalent salinity and other salinitiesamong them.

As shown in Figures 11 and 12, IFT betweenoil and SiO2 NPs is constant for all silica NPs con-centrations. However, inversely, IFT decreases from24.21 mN/m to 12.94 mN/m with increase in salinity.It must be mentioned that silica NPs have no e�ectson IFT reduction in static IFT test and the only factorto create lower IFT is brine water for this special oil.Therefore, the high salinity of Persian Gulf or reservoirconnate water is an appropriate candidate to apply forinjection uid.

Therefore, in static IFT test (without ooding),it is shown that saline water can decrease IFT andincrease Nca, so more oil recovery is obtained.

3.3. CA measurementTorsaeter and Abtahi [16] described wettability of areservoir rock- uid system as the ability of one uidto spread on the surface of the rock in the presenceof another uid. Wettability plays an important role


Figure 12. IFT between crude oil and di�erent salinewaters.

Figure 13. CA of reservoir rock slice: (a) Between crudeoil and saline water, and (b) between crude oil and hybrid.

in oil production. The degree of wetting of solid byliquids is usually measured by the CA that a liquid-liquid interface makes with a solid.

We use a thin section of the studied reservoir rockthat is sliced from a reservoir core sample by a cuttermachine. To measure the CA of oil drop against injec-tion uid as bulk phase on rock slice at ambient condi-tion, the oil drop volume in range of 10-12 �L is injectedto the reservoir rock slice. CA is measured two times,before and after reservoir rock treatment with hybrid.

Figure 13(a) illustrates that the oil drop spreadson the thin section that expresses oil wetness withangle of 31.935 degrees in the presence of connate salinewater.

To investigate the wettability alteration afterhybrid injection, the reservoir rock slice is soaked in

the hybrid of NP-copolymer in connate water salinityfor 30 minutes. It is observed that silica NPs siton the rock slice and the color of slice converts fromdarkness to blankness. This phenomena occur becausesalinity destroy the hybridization network between NPsand copolymer. Hence, NPs are released in the salineaqueous that result in NPs aggregating.

Afterwards, the CA for the slice with coveredsilica NPs is measured. The wettability of the reservoirrock is altered from OW to WW (147.52 degrees) as itis shown in Figure 13(b).

Wettability alteration of the reservoir rock fromOW to WW can result in higher RF and lower residualoil saturation.

3.4. MM oodingFirst, 3D MM should be saturated by 100% oil.Then, pore volume of 3D MM is computed (PV =1.136 cc) by measuring the weight di�erence betweensaturated and unsaturated MMs and known oil density(0.8451 gr/cm3). Finally, the injection rate is calcu-lated to be 0.5 cc/hr by considering average reservoir uid velocity equal to 1 ft/day. As a result, theinjection time for one pore volume injection is obtainedto be 147 min (2.27 hrs).

Figure 14 shows the MM ooding set-up and re-quirements that consist of a syringe pump, microscope,MM, backlight, and MM's holder.

In this research, one PV of three injecting uids(as described below) is injected into the MM de�ned inthe previous section:

a) First, saline water with 50,000 ppm NaCl is in-jected;

b) Next, sulfonated copolymer with 1000 ppm is in-jected;

c) Finally, hybrid of silica NPs (2000 ppm) and sul-fonated copolymer (1000 ppm) is injected.

Figure 14. MM ooding set-up.


Figure 15. RF for saline water, copolymer, and hybridinjection scenarios.

Figure 16. Saline water injection into 3D MM.

It must be noticed that copolymer and hybridsilica NPs-copolymer solution is stable during oodingand four days after ooding.

RF for saline water, sulfonated copolymer, andhybrid of silica NPs-copolymer injection are calculatedto be 29.3%, 22%, and 26.4%, respectively. Total RFafter all uid injections is obtained to be 77.7% as it isshown in Figure 15.

In the �rst scenario, namely, saline water injec-tion, severe �ngering is observed because of high mo-bility ratio (Figure 16). In the second scenario, namely,polymer ooding, higher viscosity results in bettermobility control and higher NCa and RF than thatin saline water injection scenario (Figure 17). While,in hybrid of silica NPs and sulfonated copolymer, i.e.the third scenario, not only viscosity enhancement, but

Figure 17. Copolymer ooding injection into 3D MM.

Figure 18. Silica NPs-copolymer injection into 3D MM.

also IFT reduction and emulsion formation a�ect NCaand RF [19]. Polymers lead NPs to virgin zones suchas the trapped area or the edge of the displacing anddisplaced uids to exert the e�ectiveness of silica NPs(Figure 18).

After hybrid injection, produced uids are ob-served under the microscope. The observation showsO/W emulsion drops formation and, then, less residualoil saturation than that in polymer ooding (Fig-ure 19).

4. Conclusions

In this study, the capability of hybrid silica NPscomplexes with sulfonated copolymer for decreasingresidual oil saturation is examined. To achieve thispurpose, viscosity, IFT, emulsion formation, CA tests,and MM ooding are done. Based on the observedresults, silica NPs-copolymer hybrid is a promising


Figure 19. O/W emulsion formation of production uidby hybrid ooding: (a) 50� and (b) 200� magni�cations.

candidate for performing EOR process, especially infractured reservoirs. The main results are summarizedas follows:

� The preparation method of silica NPs-copolymerhybrid has a signi�cant e�ect on the viscosity.The best approach for hybrid preparation is addingpowdery copolymer to silica nanosuspension.

� Hybridization of SiO2 NPs-copolymer not only in-creases injection uid viscosity in lower polymer con-centrations, but also leads to thermal and salinitystability of the copolymer.

� NPs have a great potential to apply wettabilityalteration and exert a positive in uence on low andvery low permeability. However, it should be notedthat NPs suspensions must be stable enough toperform their real impact. Using hybrid of polymersand NPs enhances the NPs stability.

� Hybrid injection in MM test results in high RFin comparison with water and copolymer injec-tion. After hybrid breakthrough, oil and hybridare produced simultaneously the copolymer helps

SiO2 NPs to penetrate into the virgin zone andincrease microscopic e�ciency so remained oils aredecreased. In addition, O/W emulsion formation inMM ooding is observed due to decrease in IFT.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank National IranianSouth Oil Company (NISOC) and PANA Glass BeadsCompany for information support to complete thisstudy and be grateful to Evonik industry for preparingsilica nanoparticle

Nomenclature

NCa Capillary NumberIFT Interfacial TensionCA Contact AngleRF Recovery FactorEOR Enhanced Oil RecoveryMM Micro-ModelOW Oil WetWW Water WetNPs NanoparticlesO/W Oil in Water emulsion

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Biographies

Saeed Golshokooh has a BSc degree in PetroleumEngineering from Omidiyeh University (OIAU),Khuzestan, Iran, and an MSc degree in ReservoirEngineering from Science and Research Branch (IAU),Tehran, Iran. He is working in NISOC as productionengineer. His research interests include EOR study;synthesizing new materials for CEOR, especially nanoparticles and polymers; and fabricating porous mediato �nd mechanism and e�ectiveness of these materials.He has also registered three Iranian patent and oneUS patent related to design and fabrication of di�erentporous media with controllable characteristics.

Ahmad Ramazani S.A. graduated from the Chem-ical Engineering Department of Laval University,Canada, in 1999, and is currently Professor in theDepartment of Chemical and Petroleum Engineeringat Sharif University of Technology (SUT), Tehran,Iran. He has published more than 300 papers ininternational and national journals and conferencesand has supervised more than 100 master and PhDdegree theses. He has also published three books onheat transfer, rheology, and numerical mathematicsand authored several chapters of di�erent books. Hisresearch work is in interdisciplinary subjects, mostly inthe area of experimental and theoretical investigationof polymer related processes and polymer properties,and the ow of polymeric and non-Newtonian uids indi�erent engineering �elds, including biomedical andpetroleum engineering related media.

Mahnaz Hekmatzadeh graduated from thePetroleum Engineering Department of Amirkabir(Polytechnic) University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.She is currently a senior researcher in IOR ResearchInstitute, Tehran, Iran. Her research interests includethe theoretical and experimental study of multi-phase ow in porous media, gas condensate reservoir, andimproved oil recovery. She has published 15 papers ininternational and national journals and conferences.

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