Review on application of nanoparticles for EOR purposes: A critical review of the opportunities and challenges

Nanoparticles have already gained attentions for their countless potential applications in enhanced oil recovery. Nano-sized particles would help to recover trapped oil by several mechanisms including interfacial tension reduction, impulsive emulsion formation and wettability alteration of porous media. The presence of dispersed nanoparticles in injected fluids would enhance the recovery process through their movement towards oil–water interface. This would cause the interfacial tension to be reduced. In this research, the effects of different types of nanoparticles and different nanoparticle concentrations on EOR processes were investigated. Different flooding experiments were investigated to reveal enhancing oil recovery mechanisms. The results showed that nanoparticles have the ability to reduce the IFT as well as contact angle, making the solid surface to more water wet. As nanoparticle concentration increases more trapped oil was produced mainly due to wettability alteration to water wet and IFT reduction. However, pore blockage was also observed due to adsorption of nanoparticles, a phenomenon which caused the injection pressure to increase. Nonetheless, such higher injection pressure could displace some trapped oil in the small pore channels out of the model. The investigated results gave a clear indication that the EOR potential of nanoparticle fluid is significant.