Nanotechnology for Oilfield Applications: Challenges and

Effects
Introduction
Nanotechnology is the manipulation, control, and integration of atoms and molecules to form materials,
structures, components, devices, and systems at the nanoscale. One nanometer is 1-billionth of a meter.
A water molecule is approximately one-tenth of a nanometer. A glucose molecule is approximately 1
nm. So, a nanometer approaches the size of molecules.

Nanoparticles possess three unique properties. First, their small size enables them to be transported
into formation pores not accessible to larger particles. Second, at nanoscale, material properties are size
dependent because of the large surface-area-to-volume ratio. Therefore, nanoparticles can be
engineered to contain specific optical, magnetic, interfacial, electrical, or chemical properties to perform
specific functions

Most of the proposed applications of nanotechnology in the oil field can be classified into the following
six Areas: sensing or imaging, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), gas mobility control, drilling and completion,
recovery of nanoparticles.

Of the six application areas, the authors ranked imaging, drilling through unstable zones, and tight-
reservoir applications as having the biggest potential effect. Using nanoparticles to detect hydrocarbon
saturation in a reservoir can have a significant effect on field development planning, such as well
placement. Similarly, using nanoparticle-enhanced drilling fluid to stabilize and drill through unstable
zones can increase the rate of penetration, reduce drilling costs, and minimize environmental effects.
Furthermore, using specially designed nanoparticles to image and prop up induced and naturally
occurring fractures in tight reservoirs can lead to sweet-spot identification and more prolific wells.

Sensing and Imaging

Contrast Agent for Crosswell Electromagnetic Imaging. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) can be used as
contrast agents for mapping the flood front in a reservoir. The principle behind this technology is that
the speed of electromagnetic (EM) waves decreases when they pass through a magnetic medium. In
waterflooding, water containing MNPs is injected into the reservoir. By placing an EM wave source at
the injector and an EM wave receiver at the producer, a nearby observation well, or the surface, one can
conduct crosswell EM imaging to locate the MNPs and, therefore, the fluid front.

Downhole Powerless Sensors. Nanoparticles can be designed to perform specific functions, such as
sensing temperature, pressure, and the presence of hydrocarbons. The sensors contained in the
nanoparticles do not need a supply of power; they perform their tasks through chemical or quantum
effects. They can be injected into the reservoir, recovered, and analyzed.
EOR
Chemical EOR. Applications of nanoparticles in chemical EOR have been extensively studied. They are

designed to achieve one or more of the following.

Alteration of Rock Wettability and Reduction of Oil/Water Interfacial Tension (IFT). Nanoparticles are

small enough to pass through pore throats in typical reservoirs and, thus, can access residual oil

microscopically. They reduce oil/water IFT and alter rock surface wettability because of their surface

reactivity, hence reducing the capillary force that the oil phase needs to overcome to be mobilized.

Reduction of Oil Viscosity and Enhancement of Injection-Fluid Viscosity. Better conformance and

mobility control, important in improving macroscopic recovery efficiency, is achieved by modifying the

injection-fluid viscosity to match that of the oil. Polymer has been widely used to increase water

viscosity. Nanoparticles, for example copper oxide, are capable of enhancing injection-water viscosity,

as well. Nanoparticles can stabilize emulsions or foam because of their surface activities, which also

can lead to enhanced injection-fluid viscosity

Enhancement of Heavy Oil Thermal Conductivity. Certain nanoparticles exhibit the capability to

improve reservoir thermal conductivity and specific heat, in addition to their ability to enhance density

and viscosity of treatment fluids. Thermal processes take place in reservoir rock by EM heating, which

takes advantage of injected metal-oxide nanoparticles. When exposed to high-frequency EM radiation,

these nanoparticles align themselves with the EM field, resulting in high-frequency particle movements

that heat up the surrounding region through friction.

In-Situ Upgrading of Heavy Oil. Nanoparticles can crack heavy-oil molecules chemically to upgrade

heavy oil in situ by acting as nanoscale catalysts. The large surface area of nanoparticles improves the

catalytic performances of hydrogenation and hydrocracking. Compared with micro-sized catalysts,

nanoscale particles can be dispersed easily with minimal effect on injectivity.

Gas Mobility Control

Typical gas EOR processes that use the injection of a gaseous phase such as steam or carbon dioxide
suffer from adverse mobility ratios and gravity segregation. Viscous instability leads to poor areal sweep,
while gravity segregation leads to poor vertical sweep. Foam has been used to mitigate these effects.
Foam bubbles are stabilized by a surfactant, which resides at the gas/aqueous interface. The presence of
foam lamellae increases the effective viscosity of the injected gas phase and, thus, improves the mobility
ratio and reduces gravity override.
However, surfactant propagation in a porous medium is hindered by adsorption at the rock surface and
precipitation out of solution because of divalent-ion exchange with the rock. Also, the presence of oil
has an adverse effect on foam stability. Nanoparticles can adsorb at the gas/liquid interface, depending
on their wettability. A fully water-wet nanoparticle will stay in the liquid phase. A gas-wet nanoparticle
will prefer to stay in the gaseous phase. Nanoparticles that possess both hydrophilic and hydrophobic
properties will preferably adsorb at the gas/liquid interface like a surfactant molecule. However, the
difference between the two is that the amount of energy required to detach a nanoparticle from the
interface is a few orders of magnitude greater than the thermal energy of the nanoparticle. Therefore,
the adsorption of a nanoparticle on the interface is, for all practical purposes, irreversible.

Drilling and Completion

Drilling and completion fluids that contain at least one additive with nanoscale particle size (1–100 nm)
are considered nano-based fluids. Benefiting from the huge surface area, as well as the predominance of
interparticular van der Waals and electrical forces over gravity, nano-based fluids are expected to exhibit
game-changing fluid properties at very low concentrations.

Fluid-Loss Property Enhancement. Nanoscale particles can be used in drilling and fracturing fluids to
achieve better wellbore stability and fluid-loss control. Experiments found that the addition of
nanoparticles to clay dispersions containing a fixed electrolyte concentration resulted in a greater
reduction in clay swelling lubricity and thermal stability of water-based drilling fluid was achieved by the
addition of nanoscale graphene.

Cement Property Enhancement. Research showed an improvement in the sensing property of smart
cement by 16% through the addition of nanoscale iron particles, which facilitate the monitoring of
cement height during cementing operations. Other research demonstrated enhanced protection of
smart cement by nanoscale calcium carbonate particles against oil-based mud contamination.
Moreover, the research showed that the compressive strength and elasticity, along with chemical
resistance, of American Petroleum Institute Class G cement can be enhanced by the addition of
nanoparticles, which fundamentally change the crystallization structure of the cement.

Fracturing-Fluid Property Enhancement. Researchers have observed that the use of a nanoscale
crosslinker resulted in lower polymer-loading in fracturing fluids, which was useful in reducing formation
damage for post-fracture gas flow. Furthermore, rheology and thermal stability can be enhanced by the
addition of nanoscale silica.

Produced-Fluid Treatment
MNPs can be used to treat produced fluids by removing undesirable chemicals. Studies have examined
the use of surface-modified MNPs to remove polymer from produced water. These particular MNPs are
attracted to the negatively charged polymer molecules. When a magnetic field is applied to the mixture,
the polymer/MNP settles out of solution and can be separated from the water phase. By adjusting the
pH, the MNPs can be made to be negatively charged. Consequently, the polymer will desorb from the
MNPs, which can then be reused. Because the strength of magnetic fields can be orders of magnitude
greater than that of gravity, this method allows faster separation of polymer from water than traditional
physical separation processes.

Tight-Reservoir Applications
The application of nanotechnology in tight reservoirs has been gaining more attention because of the
ability of nanoparticles to enter tight pores.

Fluid-Loss Control Additive for Drilling Fluid. Nanoscale silica was reported to be an effective fluid-loss
additive in xathan-assisted water-based drilling fluid for shale drilling. The silica acts as a bridging
material that facilitates quick formation of thin mud filter cake

Nanoscale Proppant and Proppant Suspension Enhancement. Fracture conductivity has been improved
and fluid loss has been reduced by the use of nanoscale proppants derived from coal fly ash. Also, the
proppant-carrying capability of the viscoelastic fracturing fluid for coalbed methane reservoirs can be
enhanced by introducing nanoscale composite polyester fibers. It is conceivable that a new class of
proppants made of nanoparticles may be introduced that has the ability to enter induced or
natural fractures of tight reservoirs and then coagulate or gel up, thus preventing the fractures
from closing during production.

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper SPE 183301,
“Nanotechnology for Oilfield Applications: Challenges and Impact,” by Hon Chung Lau, National
University of Singapore; Meng Yu, Shell Exploration and Production Company; and Quoc P. Nguyen, SPE,
The University of Texas at Austin