Wettability alteration can occur at different stages during the producing life of a reservoir. Oil recovery from oilwet reservoirs can significantly be increased by altering its wettability from an oil-wet to a strongly water-wet condition. Chemical agents such as surfactants are known as wettability modifiers in oil-wet systems. More recently, nanofluids prepared by dispersing nanoparticles in several liquid agents have been considered as potential wettability modifiers. In this work, the effectiveness of alumina-based nanofluids in altering the wettability of sandstone cores with an induced oil-wet wettability was experimentally studied. Eight nanofluids with different nanoparticles concentration, ranging from 100 ppm to 10000 ppm, were prepared by dispersing alumina nanoparticles in an anionic commercial surfactant. The effect of nanofluids on wettability alteration was investigated by contact angle and imbibition tests, and it was shown that designed nanofluids could significantly change the wettability of the sandstone cores from a strongly oil-wet to a strongly water-wet condition. Imbibition tests also allowed identifying the effect of nanoparticles concentration on the suitability of the treatment for enhancing the imbibition process and restoring the original core wettability. Results showed that the effectiveness of the anionic surfactant as wettability modifier could be improved by adding nanoparticles in concentrations lower or equal than 500 ppm. The best performance was achieved when a concentration of 100 ppm was used. Additionally, a core displacement test was carried out by injecting in a sand pack a nanofluid prepared by dispersing alumina nanoparticles in distillated water. The treatment was effective in altering the sand pack wettability from an oil-wet to a strongly water-wet condition as indicated by a significant reduction in the residual water saturation and a displacement to the right of the oil relative permeability curve and the crossover point.

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This work aims to investigate the effect of active catalytic nanoparticles on the improvement of the efficiency in recovery of a continuous steam injection process. Catalytic nanoparticles were selected through batch-adsorption experiments and the subsequent evaluation of the temperature for catalytic steam gasification in a thermogravimetric analyzer. A nanoparticulated SiO 2 support was functionalized with 1.0 wt % of NiO and PdO nanocrystals, respectively, to improve the catalytic activity of the nanoparticles. Oil recovery was evaluated using a sand pack in steam injection scenarios in the absence and presence of a 500 mg/L SiNi1Pd1 nanoparticles-based nanofluid. The displacement test was carried out by constructing the base curves with water injection followed by steam injection in the absence and presence of the prepared treatment. The oil recovery increased 56% after steam injection with nanoparticles in comparison with the steam injection in the absence of the catalysts. The API gravity increases from 7.2 • to 12.1 •. Changes in the asphaltenes fraction corroborated the catalytic effect of the nanoparticles by reducing the asphaltenes content and the 620 • C+ residue 40% and 47%, respectively. Also, rheological measurements showed that the viscosity decreased by up to 85% (one order of magnitude) after the nanofluid treatment during the steam injection process.

Foams in the oil and gas industry have been used as divergent fluids to attenuate the fluid channeling in high-permeability zones. Commonly, foams are generated using a surfactant solution in high-permeability reservoirs, which exhibit stability problems. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to stabilize the foams by the addition of modified silica nanoparticles, varying the surface acidity and polarity for natural gas flooding in tight gas-condensated reservoirs. Four types of modified silica-based nanoparticles with varying surface acidity and polarity (coated with vacuum residue) were synthesized and evaluated using surfactant adsorption. The basic nanoparticles exhibited a greater adsorption capacity of the surfactant, reaching an adsorbed amount of approximately 200 mg of surfactant per gram of nanoparticles, and Type I adsorption behavior. Foams were generated and evaluated based on their stability using two routes, namely, (1) with mechanical agitation and (2) methane flooding, to determine the optimal concentration of nanoparticles to be used. In both scenarios, foam height was monitored against time, and the half-life of the foam was established. The nanofluid prepared using a surfactant solution and 500 mg/L of basic nanoparticles reached a half-life 41% greater than that of the fluid that does not contain nanoparticles. In addition, a core flooding test was performed to evaluate the generation and perdurability of the foam (with and without nanoparticles) by methane flooding and the mobility reduction at typical reservoir conditions (confinement and pore pressure of 5200 and 1200 psi, respectively, and temperature of 100 °C). The porous medium was obtained from a tight gas-condensate reservoir, and it has an absolute permeability of 65.1 mD and a porosity of 7%. The oil recovery with methane injection was about 52%; with foam injection, an additional 10% was obtained, and an 18% additional recovery was reached with the injection of foam and nanoparticles.

Heavy (HO) and extra–heavy oil (EHO) production is complicated due to its high asphaltene content that lied to adverse rheological properties. In addition, the upgrading of these unconventional oils at surface or sub-surface conditions is a low cost-effective process because of the large amounts of energy needed. Accordingly, several in-situ techniques for enhancing HO and EHO recovery with objective of upgrading the oil and improving its viscosity and mobility have been employed. In this sense, nanoparticulated catalysts have demonstrated a synergistic effect in the enhancement of oil recovery and the improvement of the pyshicochemical properties of HO and EHO such as viscosity, API gravity and content of heavy hydrocarbons such as asphaltenes. Hence, this work aims at investigate the effect of catalytic active nanoparticles in the improvement of the efficiency in recovery of a continuous steam injection process. Nanoparticles were selected trough batch-adsorption experiments and the subsequent evaluation of the temperature for catalytic steam gasification in a thermogravimetric analyzer. A nanoparticulated support was functionalized with 2 wt% of NiO and/or PdO nanocrystals in order to improve the catalytic activity of the nanoparticles. Also, successfully a methodology for evaluating the effect of nanoparticulated catalyst in processes of continuous vapor injection was developed. Oil recovery was evaluated using a slim tube filled with a non-confined sand pack in steam injection scenarios in absence and presence of a water-based nanofluid. The displacement test was carried out by (1) constructing the base curves, (2) estimating the oil recovery by the continuous injection of vapor in absence of nanofluid and (3) identifying the influence of the nanoparticles in the enhanced recovery of oil. It was found that functionalized nanoparticles lead to higher adsorption of asphaltenes, higher degrees of asphaltenes self-association and lowered the temperature of n-C7 asphaltenes steam gasification. It was also observed that the oil recovery increased up to 46% for the system assisted by nanoparticles in comparison with the vapor injection without the nanocatalyst. API gravity of crude oil increased from 7.2 to 12.1°. A reduction of 59% in oil apparent viscosity was also observed. Additionally, trough n-C7 asphaltene and residue content it was demonstrated that nanoparticles are an excellent alternative for HO and EHO upgrading in processes involving vapor injection. n-C7 asphaltene content decreased a 5.2 percentile points after vapor injection in presence of nanoparticles in comparison with the virgin EHO. Also, the residue content (620°C+) decreased a 47%. Improved oil recovery due to nanoparticles injection could be attributed to three main reasons: i) wettability alteration of the porous media, ii) viscosity reduction due to reduction of the asphaltene aggregate and iii) crude oil upgrading. This study should generate a better landscape about the use of catalytic nanoparticles in the improvement of enhanced oil recovery processes and its application in local and international scenarios.

The increasing demand for fossil fuels and the depleting of light crude oil in the next years generates the need to exploit heavy and unconventional crude oils. To face this challenge, the oil and gas industry has chosen the implementation of new technologies capable of improving the efficiency in the enhanced recovery oil (EOR) processes. In this context, the incorporation of nanotechnology through the development of nanoparticles and nanofluids to increase the productivity of heavy and extra-heavy crude oils has taken significant importance, mainly through thermal enhanced oil recovery (TEOR) processes. The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of nanotechnology applied to oil recovery technologies with a focus on thermal methods, elaborating on the upgrading of the heavy and extra-heavy crude oils using nanomaterials from laboratory studies to field trial proposals. In detail, the introduction section contains general information about EOR processes, their weaknesses, and strengths, as well as an overview that promotes the application of nanotechnology. Besides, this review addresses the physicochemical properties of heavy and extra-heavy crude oils in Section 2. The interaction of nanoparticles with heavy fractions such as asphaltenes and resins, as well as the variables that can influence the adsorptive phenomenon are presented in detail in Section 3. This section also includes the effects of nanoparticles on the other relevant mechanisms in TEOR methods, such as viscosity changes, wettability alteration, and interfacial tension reduction. The catalytic effect influenced by the nanoparticles in the different thermal recovery processes is described in Sections 4, 5, 6, and 7. Finally, Sections 8 and 9 involve the description of an implementation plan of nanotechnology for the steam injection process, environmental impacts, and recent trends. Additionally, the review proposes critical stages in order to obtain a successful application of nanoparticles in thermal oil recovery processes.

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