The effect of nanoparticles on reservoir wettability alteration: a critical review
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REVIEW
The effect of nanoparticles on reservoir wettability alteration: a critical review Hilmy Eltoum1 · Yu‑Long Yang1 · Ji‑Rui Hou1 Received: 2 July 2019 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract A novel concept of treating oil reservoirs by nanofluids is being developed to improve oil recovery and reduce the trapped oil in hydrocarbon reservoirs. Nanoparticles show great potential in enhancing oil recovery under ambient conditions. In this paper, the approaches of wettability alteration by using nanofluid, stability of nanofluids, and the most reliable wettability alteration mechanisms associated with variant types of nanoparticles have been reviewed. Moreover, the parameters that have a significant influence on nanofluid flooding have been discussed. Finally, the recent studies of the effect of nanoparticles on wettability alteration have been summarised and analysed. Furthermore, this paper presents possible opportunities and challenges regarding wettability alteration using nanofluids. Keywords Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) · Nanofluid injection · Wettability alteration · Nanoparticles · Contact angle
1 Introduction Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods applied in hydrocarbon reservoirs typically cover different mechanisms, including IFT reduction, wettability alteration, mobility control, and gravity drainage. Due to the increased demands in the global energy market, oil companies are required to invent novel solutions to improving oil recovery. Nanoparticles (NPs) are considered as one of the promising chemical methods in EOR applications (Kazemzadeh et al. 2019). Nanoparticles are defined in most references as the group of molecules bonded together to form particles with the smallest sizes ranging from 1 to 100 nm (Ehtesabi et al. 2017; Mahmoud et al. 2016; Torsater et al. 2012). Edited by Yan-Hua Sun Hilmy Eltoum and Yu-Long Yang contributed equally to this work. * Hilmy Eltoum [email protected] Yu‑Long Yang [email protected] Ji‑Rui Hou [email protected] 1
Unconventional Petroleum Research Institute, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China
Nanoparticles have beneficial characteristics in EOR application compared with other injection fluids used in conventional EOR methods such as gas, polymer, surfactant, alkali, steam, and other chemicals (Almahfood and Bai 2018; Druetta and Picchioni 2019). In addition to the ultrasmall sizes that allow nanoparticles to move through porous media without critical permeability reduction, the high ratio of its surface area to volume leads to enhancing other critical properties of nanofluids (Rahmani et al. 2015). Those distinguishing features of nanoparticles allow additional oil recovery by changing the interfacial tension between oil and water and altering reservoir rock wettability towards more water wet (Nazari Moghaddam et al. 2015). In the oil and gas industry, various applications of nanoparticles and nanofluids are under investigation, focusing on how they influence drilling operations, production development, reduction of formation damage
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