Impact of Nanotechnology on Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Mini-Review

The major challenges facing oil production during/after secondary recovery include oil entrapment by water and high water mobility. Hence, currently, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is considered a key solution for increasing oil production upon reaching the tertiary production phase. Unfortunately, EOR still has its drawbacks including the degradation of the chemicals (polymers and surfactants) used under reservoir conditions, large required volumes of chemicals, and their high cost. Nanotechnology is an emerging technology that has profoundly changed the course of different applications in various fields. In petroleum engineering, this modification can be attributed to the nanomaterials' unique properties including high surface-to-volume ratio, wettability control, and interfacial tension reduction. To this end, the use of nanomaterials to enhance oil recovery is a very attractive, yet challenging task. This mini-review focuses on the recent efforts to explore the effects of various nanomaterial additives on the EOR process as well as the proposed mechanisms.