ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Stability and settling dynamics of Al₂O₃/TiO₂ nanofluids: an ImageJ-based quantification with response surface methodology

Zeeshan Ali Lashari, Wanchun Zhao, Ali Ali-zada, Salah M. El-Bahy, and Shaine Mohammadali Lalji

School of Petroleum Engineering, NorthEast Petroleum University, Daqing, People’s Republic of China

E-mail: zalashari01@gmail.com

Received: 29 August 2025  Accepted: 29 September 2025

Abstract:

Worldwide, the application of polymer and nanotechnology within research area of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has raised remarkably. In nanotechnology, nanofluid is widely useful in reservoirs to rise the sweep efficiency and produce residual oil. The stability of nanoparticles in the nanofluids is most important for their successful application to produce residual oil. It is utmost important to formulate the nanofluid with least settling of nanoparticles under reservoir environment. An laboratorial analysis was performed within the salinity (NaCl 3.0 wt%) to observe the changes with the adding up of aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) to prepare nanofluid with sodium alginate. In order to completely investigate, an analysis was carried out utilizing XRD, FTIR, SEM, and viscosity investigation of Al₂O₃ and TiO₂. In room-temperature conditions, the effects of sodium alginate concentration (0.30 wt%—0.50 wt%) and Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ concentrations (0.05 wt%—0.40 wt%) in brine solution (NaCl 3.0 wt%) were investigated for the stability of nanoparticles. The stability of nanoparticles was additionally examined using novel ImageJ processing technique with adding noise and generating 3D surface plot. In addition, the viscosity evaluation of experimental results was compared with response surface methodology and ANOVA analysis. The experimental findings mark that TiO₂ possesses better stability due to greater hydroxyl groups (–OH) that can combine with carboxyl group (–COOH) of sodium alginate as compare to experimental results obtained from nanofluid prepared with Al₂O₃ with sodium alginate. The findings from viscosity were confirmed by response surface methodology and ANOVA analysis, and it was discovered that the nanofluid equipped with sodium alginate (0.40 wt%) and TiO₂ (0.35 wt%) with salinity NaCl (3.0 wt%) is stable and constructive for enhancing hydrocarbon production as compare to nanofluid that was prepared with Al₂O₃ under same saline concentration.

Keywords: Modeling; Nanoparticles; Enhanced oil recovery; Salinity; ImageJ

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-025-04433-6

Chemical Papers 80 (1) 837–852 (2026)