A State-of-the-Art Review of Nanoparticles Application in Petroleum with a Focus on Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract

Research on nanotechnology application in the oil and gas industry has been growing rapidly in the past decade, as evidenced by the number of scientific articles published in the field. With oil and gas reserves harder to find, access, and produce, the pursuit of more game-changing technologies that can address the challenges of the industry has stimulated this growth. Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize the petroleum industry both upstream and downstream, including exploration, drilling, production, and enhanced oil recovery (EOR), as well as refinery processes. It provides a wide range of alternatives for technologies and materials to be utilized in the petroleum industry. Nanoscale materials in various forms such as solid composites, complex fluids, and functional nanoparticle-fluid combinations are key to the new technological advances. This paper aims to provide a state-of-the-art review on the application of nanoparticles and technology in the petroleum industry, and focuses on enhanced oil recovery. We briefly summarize nanotechnology application in exploration and reservoir characterization, drilling and completion, production and stimulation, and refinery. Thereafter, this paper focuses on the application of nanoparticles in EOR. The different types of nanomaterials, e.g., silica, aluminum oxides, iron oxide, nickel oxide, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, zirconium oxide, polymers, and carbon nanotubes that have been studied in EOR are discussed with respect to their properties, their performance, advantages, and disadvantages. We then elaborate upon the parameters that will affect the performance of nanoparticles in EOR, and guidelines for promising recovery factors are emphasized. The mechanisms of the nanoparticles in the EOR processes are then underlined, such as wettability alteration, interfacial tension reduction, disjoining pressure, and viscosity control. The objective of this review is to present a wide range of knowledge and expertise related to the nanotechnology application in the petroleum industry in general, and the EOR process in particular. The challenges and future research directions for nano-EOR are pinpointed.

Effect of the nanoparticles in the stability of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide/resorcinol/formaldehyde gel systems for water shut‐off/conformance control applications

“…Recently, nanoparticles are proposed as a possible additive in fluids used in the oil and gas industry based on their ripping characteristics of particle size, large area/volume ratio, and so on, allowing a better transfer of mass and energy . Regarding conformance control with polymer gel systems, Lakatos et al .…”

Nano-fluid viscosity screening and study of in situ foam pressure buildup at high-temperature high-pressure conditions

“…The study of Zhang et al (2011) pointed out the benefit of NPs surface coating tailored to achieve certain additional properties that could withstand the effect of high temperature. Agista et al (2018) also provide a comprehensive review on the state of the art of NPs application in EOR. The authors summarized different functionalized NPs, particularly SiO 2 NPs, to achieve various influential factors in nano-stabilized foam.…”

Effect of Silica Nanoparticles on Fluid/Rock Interactions during Low Salinity Water Flooding of Chalk Reservoirs

“…Many researchers have conducted core flooding studies and demonstrated the potential of silica NPs to increase oil recovery [2,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Adsorption and transport of nanoparticles in porous media is of primary importance for subsurface applications as this determines the effectiveness of the nanofluid injection.…”