«Onshore and offshore oil and gas well construction»

Application of nanotechnologies to increase oil recovery of formations: nanofluids

UDC: 620.3+22.276.344+22.245.54+22.276.6
DOI: 10.33285/0130-3872-2023-11(371)-42-49

Authors:

¹ Kuban State Technological University, Krasnodar, Russia

Keywords: nanotechnology, nano-fluids, nano-particles (NPs), enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods, disjoining pressure, contact angle of wettability, interfacial tension, viscosity, asphaltene precipitation, mechanisms for displacing residual oils, capillary forces, mobility, rheological properties, rock surface

Annotation:

The main problems that subsoil users face when applying secondary methods of oil fields development are the formation of residual oil and the breakthrough of the displacing agent through more permeable intervals of the formations. It causes a sharp water cut of the well stock production and a decrease of the operation economic efficiency. Thus, the transition to tertiary development methods is considered a key solution for increasing oil recovery. However, traditional enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods have their drawbacks: decomposition of chemicals (polymers and surfactants) in reservoir conditions at elevated temperatures, large required volumes of components and their high cost. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the potential application of nanotechnologies for enhancing oil recovery. Many studies have explained that nanoparticles (NPs) play a promising role in enhancing oil recovery due to their ability to alter oil recovery mechanisms and release oil droplets in the reservoir pore system. The article overviews the recent research on nanotechnologies applications for enhancing oil recovery, paving the way for researchers interested in integrating these advances. The first part of the article discusses studies of the main mechanisms of oil recovery enhan cementusing nano-fluids, including disjoining pressure, wettability changes, inter-facial tension reduction, increase of injected fluids viscosity and preventing asphaltene precipitation. The second part of the article identifies the challenges and prospects for field application of nanotechnology for enhanced oil recovery.

Bibliography:

1. Khavkin A.Ya. Nanoyavleniya i nanotekhnologii v dobyche nefti i gaza. – M.; Izhevsk: In-t komp'yuternykh issled., 2010. – 692 s.
2. Application of Nanoparticles in Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Critical Review of Recent Progress / Xiaofei Sun, Yanyu Zhang, Guangpeng Chen, Zhiyong Gai // Energies. – 2017. – Vol. 10, Issue 3. – P. 345. – DOI: 10.3390/en10030345
3. Agista M.N., Kun Guo, Zhixin Yu. A State-of-the-Art Review of Nanoparticles Application in Petroleum with a Focus on Enhanced Oil Recovery // Applied Sciences. – 2018. – Vol. 8, Issue 6. – P. 871. – DOI: 10.3390/app8060871
4. Recent advances in application of nanotechnology in chemical enhanced oil recovery: Effects of nanoparticles on wettability alteration, interfacial tension reduction, and flooding / J.A. Ali, K. Kolo, A.K. Manshad, A.H. Mohammadi // Egyptian J. of Petroleum. – 2018. – Vol. 27, Issue 4. – P. 1371–1383. – DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpe.2018.09.006
5. El-Diasty A.I., Aly A.M. Understanding the Mechanism of Nanoparticles Applications in Enhanced Oil Recovery // SPE North Africa Technical Conf. and Exhibition, Cairo, Egypt, Sept. 14–16. – 2015. – DOI: 10.2118/175806-MS
6. Experimental Study of Wettability Alteration During Nanofluid Enhanced Oil Recovery Process and Its Effect on Oil Recovery / Shidong Li, M. Genys, Kun Wang, O. Torsæter // Proc. of the SPE Reservoir Characterization and Simulation Conf. and Exhibition, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sept. 14–16. – 2015. – DOI: 10.2118/175610-MS
7. Roustaei A., Bagherzadeh H. Experimental investigation of SiO2 nanoparticles on enhanced oil recovery of carbonate reservoirs // J. of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology. – 2015. – Vol. 5. – P. 27–33. – DOI: 10.1007/s13202-014-0120-3
8. Wettability alteration of oil-wet carbonate by silica nanofluid / S. Al-Anssari, A. Barifcani, Wang Shaobin [et al.] // J. of Colloid and Interface Science. – 2016. – Vol. 461. – P. 435–442. – DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2015.09.051
9. The Potential of a Novel Nanofluid in Enhancing Oil Recovery / Bing Wei, Qinzhi Li, Fayang Jin [et al.] // Energy Fuels. – 2016. – Vol. 30, Issue 4. – P. 2882–2891. – DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b00244
10. Spontaneous Imbibition Experiments of Enhanced Oil Recovery with Surfactants and Complex Nano-Fluids / B.F. Towler, H.L. Lehr, S.W. Austin [et al.] // J. of Surfactants and Detergents. – 2017. – Vol. 20. – P. 367–377. – DOI: 10.1007/s11743-017-1924-1
11. Polymeric Surfactants: Synthesis, Properties, and Links to Applications / P. Raffa, D.A.Z. Wever, F. Picchioni, A.A. Broekhuis // Chemical Reviews. – 2015. – Vol. 115, Issue 16. – P. 8504–8563. – DOI: 10.1021/cr500129h
12. Shidong Li, Hendraningrat L., Torsæter O. Improved Oil Recovery by Hydrophilic Silica Nanoparticles Suspension: 2-Phase Flow Experimental Studies // Int. Petroleum Technology Conf., Beijing, China, March 26–28. – 2013. – DOI: 10.2523/16707-MS
13. An Experimental Investigation of Polysilicon Nanoparticles' Recovery Efficiencies Through Changes in Interfacial Tension and Wettability Alteration / A. Roustaei, J. Moghadasi, H. Bagherzadeh, A. Shahrabadi // Proc. of the SPE Int. Oilfield Nanotechnology Conf. and Exhibition, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, June 12–14. – 2012. – DOI: 10.2118/156976-MS
14. Improved Oil Recovery by Nanofluids Flooding: An Experimental Study / L. Hendraningrat, B. Engeset, S. Suwarno, O. Torsæter // SPE Kuwait Int. Petroleum Conf. and Exhibition, Kuwait City, Kuwait, Dec. 10–12. – 2012. – DOI: 10.2118/163335-MS
15. Impact of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles on Enhanced Oil Recovery from Limestone Media at Several Temperatures / A.E. Bayat, R. Junin, A. Samsuri [et al.] // Energy Fuels. – 2014. – Vol. 28, Issue 10. – P. 6255–6266. – DOI: 10.1021/ef5013616
16. Lyons W.C., Plisga G.J. Standard Handbook of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering. – Houston, TX, USA: Gulf Professional Publishing, 2011. – 1568 p.
17. Shah R.D. Application of Nanoparticle Saturated Injectant Gases for EOR of Heavy Oils // SPE Annual Technical Conf. and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, Oct. 4–7. – 2009. – DOI: 10.2118/129539-STU
18. Yousefvand H., Jafari A. Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Polymer/nanosilica // Procedia Materials Science. – 2015. – Vol. 11. – P. 565–570. – DOI: 10.1016/j.mspro.2015.11.068
19. Inhibition of Asphaltene Precipitation by TiO2, SiO2, and ZrO2 Nanofluids / M. Mohammadi, M. Akbari, Z. Fakhroueian [et al.] // Energy Fuels. – 2011. – Vol. 25, Issue 7. – P. 3150–3156. – DOI: 10.1021/ef2001635
20. Alomair O.A., Matar K.M., Alsaeed Y.H. Nanofluids Application for Heavy Oil Recovery // Proc. of the SPE Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conf. and Exhibition, Adelaide, Australia, Oct. 14–16. – 2014. – DOI: 10.2118/171539-MS
21. Behavior of Asphaltene Adsorption onto the Metal Oxide Nanoparticle Surface and Its Effect on Heavy Oil Recovery / Y. Kazemzadeh, S.E. Eshraghi, K. Kazemi [et al.] // Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. – 2015. – Vol. 54, Issue 1. – P. 233–239. – DOI: 10.1021/ie503797g
22. Nanoparticles for Inhibition of Asphaltenes Damage: Adsorption Study and Displacement Test on Porous Media / C.A. Franco, N.N. Nassar, M.A. Ruiz [et al.] // Energy Fuels. – 2013. – Vol. 27, Issue 6. – P. 2899–2907. – DOI: 10.1021/ef4000825