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org/EF Review

Review on Oil Displacement Technologies of Enhanced Oil

Recovery: State-of-the-Art and Outlook
Yiya Wang,† Xinlu Han,† Jinyu Li, Ruiqi Liu, Qi Wang, Chenxing Huang, Xinwei Wang, Liqiang Zhang,*
and Riyi Lin*

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ABSTRACT: Despite rapid advances in renewable energy extraction and utilization, global oil
demand continues to rise. Oil displacement technologies are widely studied and applied
Downloaded via UNIV OF PADOVA on May 18, 2023 at 06:32:50 (UTC).

because they can extract more oil in depleted reservoirs or recover unconventional ones. This
study introduces research methods and mechanisms of four oil displacement technologies, i.e.,
water flooding, chemical flooding, gas flooding, and steam flooding. Although oil displacement
technologies are helping to meet the growing demand for oil and energy, there are still some
challenges for industrial applications. Some agents adopted in the oil displacement have
shortcomings in the corrosion of mining equipment and damage to the reservoir structure.
Therefore, solutions to the problem are crucial and are investigated widely in the literature
using experiments and simulations. For experimental research, a diffusion framework for
studying mass transfer in the oil displacement process and an experimental system for
simulating oil displacement in offshore reservoirs should be built, which will facilitate the
widespread industrial application of oil displacement technology. Therefore, it is necessary to
improve the accuracy and expand the application range of the experimental system. As for
numerical simulation, reaction kinetics research is essential for selecting displacement agent materials and preventing harmful gas
leakage for industrial applications. However, the dynamics of foam flooding and CO2 flooding are not thoroughly studied. Moreover,
it is an acceptable research topic that reducing the uncertainty of discrete regions is an effective method to improve the accuracy of
numerical simulation results. For the broader application of oil displacement technology to industry, several mechanisms regarding
the research field could be studied more thoroughly and comprehensively in the future, i.e., (1) the influence mechanisms of some
impurities and complex reservoir physical properties, (2) the method of combining various oil displacement technologies, (3) the T-
H-M-C multifield coupling oil displacement mechanism at micro/nanoscale, (4) the cement failure mechanism caused by CO2 and
H2S, and (5) the tube brittle fracture mechanism caused by stress corrosion. For the sustainable development and efficient utilization
of oil displacement, this review summarizes the extensive information about four oil displacement technologies, thus encouraging
and providing research topics for further development and applications.

1. INTRODUCTION characteristics of the formation, many forms of residual oil

In recent years, with the increase in energy consumption and
oil recovery times, oil recovery from petroleum reservoirs has
gradually entered the secondary and tertiary stages. The
International Energy Agency predicts that the global oil
demand will surge from 90 million barrels/day in 2020 to 104
million barrels/day in 2030.1 To meet the global energy
demands, oil companies and researchers are trying to develop
more efficient and environmentally friendly methods to
stabilize oil production.2 Thus, enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
has attracted much attention and has become one of the most
widely used processes.
After the primary recovery, there is still oil remaining in the
reservoir. However, water, oil, and other materials in a
reservoir is the typical multiphase flow, which is susceptible
to capillary force, viscous force, gravity, and other fluid
dynamics effects.3 Due to the complex porous media
exist in the reservoir, making the recovery process more
complex and less effective.4,5 The remaining oil may plug the
pore throats, adhere to the rock wall as an oil film, or exist in
pores and throats that cannot be accessed by primary recovery
techniques (Figure 1).6 The exploitation stage in which the oil
reservoir’s energy is artificially supplemented by water or gas
injection is called secondary oil recovery. At the end of the
secondary oil recovery, when the integrated water concen-
tration rises to the economic limit, the stage of continuing to
Received: October 26, 2022
Revised: January 17, 2023
Published: January 30, 2023

© 2023 American Chemical Society https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.2c03625

2539 Energy Fuels 2023, 37, 2539−2568
Energy & Fuels
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of remaining oil distribution in reservoir.
Figure 2. Classification of oil displacement techniques.
explore the remaining oil (such as thermal oil recovery,
miscible gas flooding, and chemical flooding) is called tertiary
oil recovery, which is also known as EOR. From 1998 to 2022,
the global oil recovery by thermal oil recovery is the highest,
followed by gas flooding and chemical flooding. In 2022, the
global oil production from EOR reaches 1.19 × 108 t.
A conventional reservoir is an accumulation of hydrocarbons
localized in stratigraphic traps. An unconventional reservoir is a
resource whose porosity, permeability, fluid trapping mecha-
nism, or other characteristics differ from those of the
conventional reservoir. As conventional oil resources decline
and the production costs rise, unconventional oil is being
exploited, i.e., heavy oil, extra heavy oil, sand oil, tight oil, and
shale oil. Unconventional oil is characterized by large density,
impurity, and high viscosity. The exploitation of unconven-
tional reservoirs can fill the large petroleum demand gap. To
extract more oil from depleted reservoirs and unconventional
reservoirs, oil displacement is considered a promising
technology.7
As shown in Figure 2, the oil displacement technologies
include water, chemical, gas, and steam flooding. Water or gas
flooding is used in secondary recovery. Water is continuously
injected in conventional petroleum reservoirs to extract more
residual oil, while gas flooding can be used in conventional and
unconventional oil reservoirs. Air, CO2, N2, and flue gas are
commonly used gases. Chemical, miscible gas, and steam
flooding are used in the tertiary stage. The typical chemical
agents are surfactant, nanoparticle (NP), nanofluid, polymer,
foam, low salinity water, smart water, and alkali. In recent
years, the combination of multiple displacement technologies
to increase recovery has been evaluated and proven more
effective. For example, water alternating gas (WAG) flood-
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ing,8−16 nanoparticle/nanofluid-assisted water alternating gas
(NWAG) flooding,17−20 NPs and polymers synergistic
combination,21−26 NPs assisting foam flooding,27−31 NPs
assisting surfactant flooding,32−37 surfactant alternating gas
(SAG) flooding,13,15,38 alkaline surfactant alternated gas
(ASAG) flooding,39−41 etc.
A large number of review articles focused on one particular
technique or one particular reservoir. Kamal et al.42 reviewed
the different types of surfactants and their limitations. Hussain
et al.43 reviewed the fundamental mechanisms and the current
status of the application of nanoparticles in EOR. Sun et al.44
reviewed the technology of enhanced oil recovery by gas
injection and established the knowledge structure. Yang et al.1
reviewed the technology of enhanced oil recovery by steam
flooding and summarized the challenges faced by the industry.
However, the above articles only summarized the development
status of one oil displacement technology and its challenges
faced by industrial applications, and lacked a comprehensive
summary of the research methods, mechanisms, and develop-
ment status of all oil displacement technologies. There need to
be more general review articles in the literature that summarize
and overview the oil displacement technologies, which could
allow for a deeper understanding and further development of
the technologies. This article reviewed the overall development
status of oil displacement technologies (i.e., water flooding,
chemical flooding, gas flooding, and steam flooding), analyzed
oil displacement mechanisms and research methods, and
provided various topics of oil displacement technologies for
future research opportunities.
The main objective of this review is to express the research
developments in understanding the different aspects of various
oil displacement techniques. In the following, the governing
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mechanisms of oil displacement techniques will be introduced,

together with up-to-date experimental and numerical methods.
A summarization of the limitation and problems of these
techniques will be presented, based on which future
perspectives regarding this research field are proposed. The
main displacement technologies described are water, chemical,
gas, and steam flooding. It should be noted that alkali flooding
is not reviewed in this paper since there is less research on this
topic. NP, nanofluid, and polymer flooding are summed up as
the nanosized oil displacement agent flooding in this review.

2. RESEARCH METHODS OF OIL DISPLACEMENT IN

RESERVOIR
2.1. Experiment System. After much literature research
and laboratory investigation, a variety of existing experimental
devices are divided into four categories in this review, i.e., oil
displacement device with microscopic visualization,45−50 oil
displacement device using sand-filling tube test,13,32,51−57 core Figure 4. Schematic diagram of the microglass etching model.
displacement test device,10,30,58−66 oil displacement device
using glass beads,28,63,67−69 and 3D multifield coupling
experimental system.70−75
Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an oil displacement device
with microscopic visualization. The microglass etching model,

Figure 5. Oil displacement device using a sand-filling tank tube (1,

Figure 3. Oil displacement device with microscopic visualization (1,
distilled water bottle; 2, constant-flux pump; 3, formation water tank;
4, oil tank; 5, displacement agent tank; 6, glass container; 7, LED
light; 8, pressure sensor; 9, video camera; 10, computer; 11, fluid
collector; 12, valve; 13, pressure gauge).
which is shown in Figure 4, is placed in the glass container (6).
A video camera (9) is used to record the displacement process.
The device includes a monitoring system, injection system,
reservoir simulation system, and collecting system. The device
is mainly used to study the micro-oil displacement process of
water flooding, chemical flooding, and gas flooding. Wettability
treatment and test of the microglass etching model is a
necessary pretreatment to start the experiment. The advantage
is that the whole process of oil displacement and residual oil
distribution can be recorded in detail while it is a 2D system.
Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of oil displacement using a
sand-filling pipe test device. The device includes a monitoring
system, injection system, reservoir simulation system, and
collecting system. The sand-filling tube in the reservoir
simulation system is filled with silica sand or rock debris.
This device is mainly suitable for sand oil, tight, or limestone
reservoir simulation experiments, in which water flooding,
chemical flooding, and gas flooding experiments are carried
out. The advantages are simple operation and low cost. The
2541
distilled water bottle; 2, constant-flux pump; 3, pressure gauge; 4,
formation water tank; 5, oil tank; 6, displacement agent tank; 7, sand-
filled tube; 8, fluid collector; 9, thermotank; 10, pressure sensor; 11,
computer; 12, valve).
disadvantages are the small scale of the simulated reservoir, the
nonrepeatable experimental process, and the invisible exper-
imental process.
Similar to Figure 5, Figure 6 describes a schematic diagram
of the core displacement test device. The device includes a
monitoring system, injection system, reservoir simulation
system, and collecting system. Compared with the oil
displacement device using the sand-filling tube test, the core
is installed in a core gripper, and the confining pressure test is
added to avoid the danger of excessive pressure in the reservoir
simulation system of the core displacement test device. After
the oil displacement process, a CT scan of the core can be
performed to obtain the residual oil distribution. This device
applies to water, chemical, and gas flooding. The advantage is
that it can simulate multiple reservoir displacement experi-
ments, while the disadvantage is that the simulated displace-
ment path is shorter due to the limited volume of the core and
the experimental cost is high.
In some studies, glass beads of various diameters were filled
into a stainless steel tank with a glass cover to simulate the
reservoir. The experimental system is presented in Figure 7.
Different from the above two devices, the device includes a
monitoring system, injection system, reservoir simulation
system, collecting system, and backpressure system. Four
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Figure 6. Core displacement test device (1, distilled water bottle; 2,

constant-flux pump; 3, formation water tank; 4, oil tank; 5, Figure 8. 3D multifield coupling experimental system (1, constant-
displacement agent tank; 6, core holder; 7, core; 8, confining flux pump; 2, distilled water bottle; 3, formation water tank; 4, oil
pressure; 9, fluid collector; 10, pressure sensor; 11, computer; 12, tank; 5, displacement agent tank; 6, superheated steam generator; 7,
valve; 13, pressure gauge). reservoir simulator; 8, temperature collector; 9, computer; 10, fluid
collector; 11, N2 tank; 12, temperature gauge; 13, pressure gauge; 14,
three-way valve; 15, valve; 16, digital gas mass flow controller).
types of flooding experiments in conventional and some
unconventional reservoirs can be performed in this device.
Since the wettability of glass beads may differ from that of
reservoirs, wettability verification and adjustment of glass
beads are necessary conditions for experiments. The
advantages are visualization of displacement path and
approximation of porous media, while the disadvantages are
regular porosity and the danger of glass cover plate under high
pressure.
The above systems simply simulate oil displacement in
reservoirs. Differently, Figure 8 shows a schematic diagram of a
3D multifield coupling experimental system that can simulate
injection and production wells. The reservoir simulator is a 3D
system with hundreds of thermocouples and multiple pressure
sensors. The internal distribution is shown in Figure 9. The
device includes an injection system, reservoir simulation
Figure 9. Internal distribution of 3D model.
system, backpressure system, and monitoring collecting
system. Compared with the oil displacement device using
glass beads, this device is safer when conducting experiments 2.2. Numerical Simulation. Compared with the experi-
under high pressure. The advantages are the simulation of ments that verify the accuracy of different methods, the
injection and production wells and reservoir temperature numerical simulation shows intuitively the overall reservoir
distribution. The disadvantage is that the device is complicated change, which is more integrated and detailed. A reservoir is a
to operate. porous medium with a very complex internal pore structure in

Figure 7. Oil displacement device using glass beads (1, distilled water bottle; 2, constant-flux pump; 3, steam generator; 4, formation water tank; 5,
oil tank; 6, displacement agent tank; 7, stainless steel tank; 8, glass beads; 9, thermotank; 10, fluid collector; 11, N2 tank; 12, pressure sensor; 13,
computer; 14, three-way valve; 15, valve; 16, digital gas mass flow controller).

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Figure 10. Comparison of the three simulation methods.

Table 1. Comparison of Software Parameters

parameter eclipse VIP CMG SURE
region crossing allow not allow allow allow
fluid tracking API tracker and saline water tracker API tracker API tracker API tracker
relative permeability directional relative permeability directional relative permeability directional relative permeability
rock property rock compression rock compression rock compression
reservoir fault not available not available available available
polymer component diffusion available Not available available not available

which the flow, heat transfer, and diffusion are far more
complex than a single medium.76 The complexity can be
simplified to a different extent using traditional reservoir
simulation software, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and
lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The comparison of the
three simulation methods is shown in Figure 10.
For a numerical researcher, selecting traditional reservoir
simulation software is the most convenient and relatively
accurate choice. The software includes Eclipse,77−83 VIP,
CMG,84−91 SURE, and so on. Table 1 summarizes the
capability of software that is often used in literature. Other
software is not listed in Table 1 due to low usage. The
traditional simulation software can describe the reservoir
properties, simulate reservoir macro changes, or analyze
production data. However, it is difficult to present the fluid
flow, molecular transport, and migration of different oil
displacement processes in reservoirs.
Compared with traditional reservoir simulation software, Figure 11. Flowchart of CFD simulation.
CFD is a common method for simulating fluid flow in
reservoirs. The mixture model, volume of fluid, and Eulerian calculation. At present, many kinds of multiphase flow LBM
model are suitable for reservoir simulation. Compared with models have been developed, including the color model,
traditional software, CFD can solve porous media problem pseudopotential model, free energy model, and phase-field
with finer pore networks.92 Accordingly, CFD is preferred for model. There are two collision models, namely the single
studying fluid flow under unique and critical conditions and for relaxation collision model and the multi relaxation collision
magnifying the details of fluid flow in porous media. When model. The LBM simulation process is presented in Figure 12.
CFD is used for numerical simulation, grid optimization, and The LBM simulation process is described in Figure 12.
selecting appropriate multiphase model are crucial for the Table 2 summarizes the characteristics and applicability of
accuracy of the result. In addition, commercial software based different research methods for oil displacement technologies.
on CFD (such as ANSYS Fluent,93−101 ANSYS CFX,102,103
COMSOL Multiphysics,104−107 etc.) can also make the 3. LITERATURE REVIEW AND DISCUSSIONS ON
reservoir fluid simulation more convenient for research usages DIFFERENT OIL DISPLACEMENT TECHNIQUES
with different requirements. The CFD simulation process is 3.1. Water Flooding. Water flooding is a matured and
described in Figure 11. dominant technology in oil displacement, especially in low-
Besides, LBM with mesoscopic background is widely permeability reservoirs. The water used in displacement is
regarded as one of the potential simulation methods to mainly produced water, seawater, groundwater, river water,
simulate complicated flow, heat transfer, and diffusion in etc.110,111 The injected water supports reservoir pressure and
porous media. Unlike traditional simulation methods, LBM is a drives the oil in the reservoir toward production wells. The
mesoscopic simulation method that is discrete in macro and superiority of using this method is that the reservoir
continuous in micro.108,109 Compared with the CFD method, production rate can be maintained for a longer period.112 In
LBM has the advantages of simple programming, easy dealing oil-wet formations, bound water is mainly in the form of water
with complex physical boundary conditions, and facile parallel droplets, and oil fills the entire pore system. In water flooding,
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and high-pressure steam flooding

mainly used for high temperature
water flooding; gas flooding;
study of micro/nanoscale

global change simulation

fluid dynamic simulation

applicability

molecular simulation
chemical flooding
mechanisms

no visualization; short simulation path; high experimental

simulation of chemical changes in crude oil (e.g., viscosity

small experimental scale; no visualization; no reusability

regular porosity; the danger of glass cover plate under

wwo-dimensional model; only a small amount of fluid

unable to demonstrate the fluid flow and molecular

transport processes of different oil displacement

calculation without molecular transport

disadvantage
Figure 12. Flowchart of LBM simulation.

changes) is more difficult

complex device operation
the injected water displaces the crude oil along the central axis
of the larger pore, and the oil film on the pore wall flows along

can be simulated
the wall. In addition, some crude oil remains in the smaller

high pressure
pores. As the water injection process continues, the oil film

processes
becomes thinner, and the oil in the smaller pores is gradually

cost
stripped from the rock wall.
Water is usually injected after the reservoir’s natural energy
is exhausted to restore reservoir pressure and increase

distribution; allows for high temperature and high-pressure experiments

study of fluid flow under special and critical conditions; amplification of

describe reservoir properties, simulate reservoir macroscopic changes, or
simulation of injection and production wells and reservoir temperature
production. The macroscopic phenomenon of water flooding
record the process of oil displacement and residual oil distribution

visualization of displacement path; approximation of porous media

is the flow behavior of two-phase fluid (oil and water) in many
microchannels, so understanding the flow mechanism in the
process is of great value to exploring water flooding. Qu et
al.113 constructed a 3D visual fracture−vuggy reservoir model
to observe the macroflow characteristics of oil−water two-
Table 2. Comparison of Research Methods for Oil Displacement Technology

phase flow in the water flooding process. The results show that

calculation of molecular collisions and transport

the macroscopic difference in oil−water interface height leads
multiple reservoir displacement experiments

the details of fluid flow in porous media

advantage

to the uneven distribution of the internal flow field, resulting in

easy to operate; low experimental cost

interwell interference in the oil production process. The oil−

water interface characteristics of different fracture−vuggy
combinations are different, but the law is consistent. The
water driving force at the bottom and the oil−water IFT affect
analyze production data

the oil−water flow in the dynamic oil displacement process.

Ning et al.114 investigated the effect of capillary action on fluid
flow in water flooding from a microscopic perspective. The
results indicate that the obstacles in the main displacement
capillary lead to the lateral flow of the fluid, and the obstacles
in the lateral displacement capillary block the further flow of
the fluid. The capillary infiltration accelerates the flow in the
channel and inhibits the flow in the parallel channel. Capillary
sand-filling tube test (Figure 5)

experimental system (Figure 8)

blocking caused by newly formed interfaces at pore junctions

traditional reservoir simulation

computational fluid dynamics

core displacement test device
oil displacement device using

oil displacement device using

oil displacement device with

contributes to sudden changes in fluid flow in the pores.

microscopic visualization

lattice Boltzmann method

Of course, production conditions affecting water flooding

glass beads (Figure 7)
3D multifield coupling

should be evaluated. For example, Li et al.115 explored the

influence of crude oil viscosity and water flooding rate. The
research method

results reveal that the high viscosity of crude oil leads to low
(Figure 3)

(Figure 6)

recovery. High speed water flooding enhanced oil recovery, but

software

water breakthrough was achieved early. Wang et al.116 carried

out experiments on the effect of fillers in fracture−vuggy
reservoirs on water flooding. It is found that the filling material
in the fracture has a negative effect on water flooding, which
simulation
experiment

numerical

depends on the geological characteristics of the fracture−cavity

system

reservoir. The infill made pre-existing or new priority channels

more apparent, causing the reservoir to become “heteroge-
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Energy & Fuels
neous”. Surprisingly, the adverse effects of this phenomenon
can be mitigated by reducing water injection intensity.
The effect of reservoir structure on water flooding should
also be assessed. As reported by Zhong et al.,117 the larger the
proportion of the large throat is, the smaller the difference
between the radius of the large throat and middle throat is, and
the higher the water flooding efficiency is. Wang et al.118
claimed that when large karst caves are located in the direction
of high permeability or small well spacing. Wells with low
permeability or small well spacing will produce water earlier
and achieve better injection efficiency. The optimal well
spacing and permeability grow with the increased ratio of cave
reserves to fracture reserves. Gao et al.112 completed the
numerical simulation by combining the randomly generated
reservoir pores with the theoretical model of the reservoir
water displacement dynamic process and analyzed the relevant
influencing factors. The results illuminate that there is no linear
relationship between displacement velocity and displacement
efficiency. Due to the significant viscosity difference between
the oil and water phase, the movement of water tends to follow
the direction of the least flow resistance. A lower oil/water
viscosity ratio is more favorable for higher oil displacement
efficiency. Porosity is not the only factor determining
displacement performance, as the shape and length of the
preferred flow path also have an impact on displacement
performance.
The research efforts on the microscale mechanism of water
flooding are further extended for a comprehensive and
systematic understanding. Shahmohammadi et al.119 con-
ducted microscale experiments to study emulsified phase
formation and IFT changes during water flooding. The results
demonstrate that there is a critical water salinity, that is, below
the critical salinity, a large number of polar components of
crude oil are distributed among the phases to form emulsified
phases. The IFT of oil/brine increases as the polar component
of crude oil decreases. Shapoval et al.120 studied emulsion
stability in the laboratory. The results explain that the shape of
the pores, the wettability of the rock surface and the ionic
composition of the injected brine determine the formation of
various emulsions in the pores. The injection of ion-regulated
brine can improve the connectivity between emulsion clusters
and sweep the efficiency of subsequent water injection. The
opportunities for evaluating water flooding efficiency in terms
of wettability changes are discussed by Freire Rigatto da Cruz
et al.,121 which includes three wettability systems (hydrophilic
system, intermediate wettability system, and lipophilic system).
The results display that the hydrophilic system has the highest
water displacement efficiency. The intermediate wettability
system and the lipophilic system have alternating perform-
ances, which can only be seen over a long period of time.
Low salinity water flooding (LSWF) has attracted more and
more attention as a novel concept of EOR by water flooding
since it was proposed in 1997. For EOR, LSWF is designed to
alter reservoir wetness by injecting water with a specific ionic
composition or low salinity. Jose et al.122 used a combination
of experiment and simulation to explore the potential of using
low-salinity water as an injection fluid for secondary oil
recovery from carbonate reservoirs. The results show that
when the LSWF is used for secondary oil recovery, the
predicted oil recovery rate is up to 70%. Mahmoudzadeh et
al.123 performed micromodel experiments on LSWF in porous
media. The results showed that LSWF positively affected on
both hydrophilic and lipophilic states, but the change of
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contact Angle and the decrease of IFT were not the primary
mechanisms. Elastic interfacial effects and the formation of
microemulsions were the main mechanisms. The elastic
interfacial effect discontinued and reduced fluid mobility in
the fracture, which drove fluid flow into the matrix.
Microemulsion formation effectively transferred the fluid
from the fracture into the matrix.
Tang et al.125 proposed the necessary conditions for the
application of smart water flooding technology in 1999. Smart
water flooding technology formally came into view. Compared
with the common EOR technologies, the smart water flooding
technology not only has a comparable displacement effect but
also has the advantages of simple ground support equipment,
low investment costs, and high returns.126 Researchers have
proposed many different displacement mechanisms for smart
water flooding. Mamonov et al.127 suggested that polar organic
components in sandstone minerals and pH increase caused by
cation exchange on the reservoir surface affected the
effectiveness of smart water flooding. Ding et al.124 investigated
the effect of Ca2+, Mg2+, and SO42− on altering the wettability
of carbonate rocks. As shown in Figure 13, SO42− adsorbs on
Figure 13. Schematic diagram of wettability alteration on the
carbonate rock surface by smart water. Reproduced from ref 124.
Copyright 2019 American Chemical Society.
the positively charged carbonate rock surface, while Ca2+ or
Mg2+ (>90 °C) coadsorb due to synergistic effects, thus
modifying wettability. Mahani et al.128 found that changes in
surface charge push changes in the wettability of carbonate
rocks. Smart water flooding is a new low-cost displacement
technology. However, it is still in the laboratory research or
mine testing stage, and the EOR mechanism has not been fully
unified.
The distribution of oil and water in the reservoir is
complicated due to the significant variation of reservoir
physical properties and sever heterogeneity. It is difficult to
improve oil recovery through water flooding. Gas injection
flooding is an effective method to improve oil recovery in low
permeability oilfields, but it has low sweep efficiency.
Therefore, WAG flooding is used to remedy the defect.129
The results reported by Pancholi et al.12 suggest that better oil
recovery can be achieved by increasing the WAG ratio.
However, WAG may lead to early breakthroughs due to poor
promiscuity and high reservoir heterogeneity. If CO2 is
injected alternately with water, the standard for hydrocarbon
accumulation is significantly improved. Alagorni et al.9 claimed
that when water alternating gas (WAG-N2) was used, recovery
was widely improved owing to the combination of gas and
water and the improvement in microscopic displacement
achieved by reducing viscous fingering and density dislocation,
as well as sweeping the unswept area. Wang et al.14 found that
the oil recovery rate reached 69.52% when the WAG-flue gas
was applied to the reservoir after water flooding.
NPs were added to improve the effect of WAG. NWAG is a
new method to realize EOR in intermediate wettability and
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Energy & Fuels
lipidemic reservoirs. Matroushi et al.20 confirmed that the
application of nanofluids instead of water in the WAG can shift
the wettability of the system to more hydrophilic, which affects
the relative permeability curve. Khezrnejad et al.130 inves-
tigated the function of SiO2 NPs and Al2O3 NPs in
conventional WAG. The results present that a small number
of NPs can increase oil recovery by 15%−20% because of the
decline of IFT. Moreover, SiO2 NPs are more effective than
Al2O3 NPs.
In summary, water flooding is a traditional oil recovery
technology. The screening criteria for water flooding are
carried out from six aspects such as basic reservoir conditions,
microscopic pore structure, sensitivity, seepage characteristics,
fluid properties, and water flooding effect of the reservoir. It is
easy to inject seawater or formation water into the reservoir
without any chemical treatment. Furthermore, the convenience
of injection, reservoir pressure maintenance, and low operating
costs make water flooding an attractive EOR technology.
However, with the surge of consumption and demand for
petroleum resources, LSWF and WAG are also facing
challenges as emerging technologies, and the clarification of
the complex mechanism of LSWF and WAG is a vital factor in
breaking through the challenges, especially the influence
mechanism of impurities in carbonate rocks on the wettability
change.
3.2. Chemical Flooding. Chemical flooding is an oil
recovery method in which chemical agents are injected into the
reservoir to change the physical and chemical properties of the
displacement fluid and the interface properties between the
displacement fluid and the crude oil and rock minerals, so as to
facilitate the production of crude oil. Surfactants flooding,
nanosized oil displacement agent flooding, microemulsion
flooding, and foam flooding are reviewed in this paper.
3.2.1. Surfactant Flooding. Surfactants have fixed hydro-
philic and lipophilic groups that can be oriented at the oil−
water interface to stabilize the emulsion (as shown in Figure
14a). They are generally divided into three kinds, which are
Figure 14. Schematic comparison of surfactant- and NP-stabilized
emulsion.
viscoelastic surfactants, microemulsion systems composed of
high concentration of surfactant and cosurfactant, and low
concentration of surfactant.131 The addition of surfactant can
change the wettability angle of crude oil and rock, effectively
controlling the wettability of rock, so as to make the rock
surface show the wettability of oil and improve the hydro-
philicity of oil itself. In other words, without surfactant, the
rock surface is lipophilic (wettability angle θ < 90°). When
surfactants are added, the matrix surface becomes hydrophilic
(θ > 90°), which facilitates displacement (Figure 15).132
Moreover, the activation properties of surfactants can
significantly reduce the interfacial tension (IFT) between oil
and water phases in the formation, resulting in easy oil film
separation. When the surfactant enters the formation and
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Figure 15. Schematic diagram of wettability angle variation of crude
oil and rock.
mixes with oil and water, it forms the oil-in-water (O/W)
emulsion, which is not easy to be trapped and adsorbed by the
rock wall in the pore throat, and will not lose energy due to
blockage and aggregation in the pore, thus enhancing the
fluidity and sweep efficiency of oil−water phase in the pore.
When the surfactant enters the reservoir, it primarily reacts
with the asphaltene, making it arduous for it to form a spatial
network structure with other molecular systems in crude oil.133
This contributes to reducing shear stress during oil flow and
reducing oil viscosity by non-Newtonian fluids, resulting in
changes in fluidity and EOR.
Surfactant flooding has been studied for 60 years in the
world. Back in the 1960s, Simon and Poynter injected
surfactants into the wellbore to convert highly viscous crude
oil from W/O to O/W emulsions. In 1996, Michels et al.134
applied low concentration surfactant flooding in the North Sea
field. They successfully used 0.1 wt % concentration of anionic
surfactant (propoxy ethoxy glyceryl sulfonate type) in
conjunction with a sacrificial agent to achieve surfactant
displacement without the need for polymer drive. In 2001,
Chen et al.135 tested the dilute surfactant imbibition in
carbonate cores from the Yates field. The experiments explain
that the imbibition rate of surfactant is faster than that of
formation water, and the oil−water IFT and the rock
wettability have great influences on the imbibition rate of
surfactant. Single-well and multiwell tests at Yates have also
shown that dilutive surfactant treatments can improve recovery
and reduce the water/oil ratio. In 2005, Babadagli et al.136
performed laboratory studies on the feasibility of diluting
surfactant injection into the Ibar oil field in Oman. The results
illuminate that the injection of suitable surfactant after water
flooding can improve oil recovery for low permeability
carbonate reservoirs.
Cationic surfactants are candidates for surfactant flooding in
carbonate reservoirs because of the weaker adsorption to
carbonate minerals.42 Anionic surfactants are adsorbed on the
positively charged surface of carbonate rocks, and the high
content of divalent cations in carbonate formation water may
lead to the precipitation of such surfactants. However,
compound surfactants showed suitability. Therefore, some
researchers have studied compound surfactants suitable for
carbonate rocks. For example, Chernova et al.137 made an acid
compound oil displacement agent using solvents, surfactants,
and complex compounds as coordination agents and carried
out oil displacement experiments on a heterogeneous layer
model. The results indicate that coordination compounds react
with coordination solvents to form strong acids, which can
interact with carbonate rocks to improve permeability and
contribute to oil displacement. Altunina et al.138 developed an
oil displacement agent based on surfactant, aluminum salt,
ammonium salt, inorganic acid, urea, and polyol adduct. The
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Figure 16. Oil film detachment mechanism in different fluid media. Reproduced from ref 141. Copyright 2021 American Chemical Society.
flooding agent has the following characteristics, low IFT, high
buffering capacity over a wide pH range (2.5−10 units),
reaction delay with carbonate, prevention of precipitation of
insoluble reaction products, and increased reservoir perme-
ability.
With the update of scientific research technology, the
surfactant oil displacement field has entered a new vigorous
development. In order to improve surfactant flooding ability
more efficiently, some scholars have carried out in-depth
research on surfactant flooding mechanisms. For example,
Mohan139 conducted laboratory studies of alkali-surfactant
flooding in highly mineralized and low permeability reservoirs.
The outcomes show that the surfactant can reduce the oil−
water IFT to 10−3 mN/m at high salinity. Nearly 95% of the
formation oil can be recovered by alkali-surfactant flooding.
Studies on the effects of IFT and emulsification on the
displacement efficiency of dilute surfactants were provided by
Pu et al.140 The effects of IFT and emulsification on oil
displacement efficiency were evaluated by core oil displace-
ment experiments with five surfactants. The results demon-
strate that in dilute surfactant oil displacement, the lower IFT,
the higher the oil displacement efficiency. The reduction of
IFT may be more important than emulsification for improving
the displacement efficiency of the remaining oil after water
flooding because as emulsification increases, the additional
displacement efficiency decreases. Similarly, Li et al.141
conducted experiments on remaining oil driven by surfactants
with different IFTs and emulsifying behaviors and compared
the oil film stripping process in different fluid media. Figure 16
is a schematic diagram of the oil film separation mechanism in
different fluid media. The separation of the oil film in
surfactant flooding is controlled by the flow medium and its
velocity. Emulsification dispersion plays an important role
when the proportion of heavy oil components is high, so
emulsification ability is the main choice for the surfactant to
displace high viscosity oil. Zemenkova et al.142 carried out
experiments on oil displacement of three surfactant aqueous
solutions and aqueous solutions without surfactant at various
temperatures. The results reveal that the amount of displace-
ment grows with the addition of additives and the increase in
temperature. However, it makes more sense to use surfactants
at low temperatures. As the temperature increases, the
sweeping ability of water is more potent than that of
surfactants at high temperatures. Na and Erofeev143 selected
a nonionic surfactant to conduct an oil displacement
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experiment on a core of the Tuha oil field. The experimental
results display that a nonionic surfactant solution can improve
oil displacement efficiency. While in high water content, the
core forms the dominant flow channel, and the surfactant
solution preferentially flows into the main flow channel, which
reduces the remaining oil saturation in the main flow channel,
resulting in resistance coefficient and injection pressure falling.
With thorough and detailed mechanism research, the
compound of surfactants and the development of new
surfactants have made breakthroughs. For instance, Emadi et
al.144 combined surfactants (Cedr extraction (CE)) and
nanosilica to prepare new nanosurfactants and carried out
core flooding experiments. The results show that the recovery
with CE injection is 53%, while the nanosurfactant can increase
the recovery to 74% because the nanosurfactant increases the
average water saturation. Li et al.145 developed two types of
polymer surfactants by adding different hydrophobic groups to
the polymer chain and conducted experimental tests. The
results demonstrate that the high viscosity of polymer
surfactants ensures the mobility control. In addition, the
large sweep volume, high emulsification, and high elasticity of
polymer surfactant flooding enable higher recovery rates than
traditional polymers during oil displacement. The application
of the two polymer surfactants in the test area shows that the
polymer surfactants can improve the water absorption of
medium and low permeability layers compared with traditional
polymer flooding. Kozlov et al.146 investigated the oil
displacement process of a multifunctional chemical oil
displacement composition based on surfactants, aluminum
and ammonium salts, inorganic acid admixtures, coordination
solvents, and urea. The experimental results deliver that using a
multifunctional chemical oil displacement combination based
on surfactant can change the seepage flow of a heterogeneous
reservoir model and improve the oil displacement coefficient.
On the other hand, the research of surfactants combined
with other oil recovery technology to enhance oil recovery has
been paid attention to. Phukan et al.38,40,41 explored alkaline
surfactant alternating gas/CO2 (ASAG) flooding. Compared
with the surfactant alternated gas (SAG) and water alternated
gas (WAG) flooding, more residual oil is produced in ASAG
flooding. Optimal chemical formulations for ASAG have also
been developed to achieve ultralow IFT and reduce surfactant
adsorption. In addition, a low-salinity surfactant system that
effectively declined IFT and contact angles were developed to
improve SAG flooding efficiency in immiscible phases.
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Figure 17. Schematic diagram of oil displacement by structural disjoining pressure. Reproduced with permission from ref 157. Copyright 2020
Elsevier.

Table 3. Commonly Used NPs

type NP shape applicable oil type main role in oil displacement main characteristic about oil displacement
Al2O3 multiple phases, insoluble in water, high-
temperature resistance and better adsorbed
property
polyhedral
CuO insoluble in water, thermal stability, and
nanorods
petroleum desulfurizer
heavy and extra heavy oil viscosity reduction and asphaltene
MgO high-temperature resistance, combined with
oil precipitation prevention
zirconia to increase oil effect
metallic
Fe3O4/Fe2O3 insoluble in water, high-temperature resistance,
oxide
approximate and strong magnetism
Ni2O3 sphericity insoluble in water, withstand high temperature of
600 °C, and the ability to combine with iron
SnO2 polyhedral chemical stability in water and high-temperature
nanorods resistance
light to heavy oil wettability alteration
TiO2 spherical chemical stability, high-temperature resistance,
nanorods and adhesion
inorganic SiO2 sphericity light to heavy oil or wettability alteration, IFT reduction and chemical stability and an excellent flow aid and
particles heavy and extra heavy asphaltene precipitation prevention filter aid
oil
nanosized colloid expand or contract according to the environment
colloidal plug high permeability streaks and
other types dispersion gels light to heavy oil
fractures and
polymer NP sphericity better permeability and movement

The adsorption of surfactants on the rock surface can lead to
surfactant loss, so the appropriate addition of sacrificial agents
(such as NPs) is an ideal choice to minimize the loss.
Kesarwani et al.32−34 compared the application of three NPs
(Bio Synthesized Calcium Carbonate Nanoparticles (bio-Ca
NPs), MnO2 NPs, and novel colloidal silica nanoparticles) in
surfactant flooding. The results illuminate that the addition of
NPs can effectively cut the adsorption loss of surfactants,
reduce IFT and change wettability, thus rising oil recovery by
about 5%. Another effective solution is to use a mixture of
cationic and anionic surfactants, which can also be efficient in
EOR.147−150
To sum up, researchers have conducted work on surfactant
flooding mechanisms, new surfactant compounding and
development, and the combination of surfactant flooding and
other oil displacement technologies to continuously promote
the further development of surfactant flooding. Due to the
characteristics of the reservoir, the divalent cations in the
formation water of the carbonate reservoir may lead to the
precipitation of surfactant, and the anionic surfactant may be
adsorbed on the surface of carbonate rock.151 Consequently,
surfactant flooding is not suitable for crude oil recovery in
carbonate reservoirs.
3.2.2. Nanosized Oil Displacement Agent Flooding.
Nanotechnology has proven to be an essential technology in
several industries. Nanotechnology also provides a novel
approach to oil displacement in petroleum.152 A nanoparticle
(NP) is a type of artificially with a size of no more than 100
nm. Their surface area per unit volume is larger than
traditional particles, giving them unique characteristics. They
can be added to various fluids to make diverse nano-
2548
fluids.153,154 These unique characteristics of NPs provide the
possibility to reduce pore throat clogging and maintain the
stability of nanofluids.155 Therefore, nanosized oil displace-
ment agents for EOR have a promising prospect.
After being injected into the reservoir, NPs spontaneously
arrange themselves in a three-phase contact wedge, generating
structural disjoining pressure that is higher than the bulk phase
pressure at the fluid interface near the apex of the wedge.156
With the increase of structural disjoining pressure, the diffusion
coefficient of the nanofluid increases, resulting in the
continuous diffusion of the nanofluid film toward the center
of the contact area between the oil droplet and the solid
surface, thus driving the oil away (as present in Figure 17).157
Meanwhile, the electrostatic repulsion between the formation
and the solution augments the thickness of the wetting film,
which changes the wettability of the rock layer. The change can
transform the force required for crude oil to pass through the
narrow throat from capillary resistance to a driving force
facilitating peeling off from the rock layer.158 In the driving
process, the crude oil keeps being spalled and accumulating,
and the oil layer is pushed forward by the displacement fluid.
Nanofluid in porous media can not only change the
wettability of rock surfaces but also reduce IFT of the fluid.
Lower IFT makes the oil more prone to deformation, thus
facilitating the passage of oil through a narrower throat. Both
NPs and surfactants can stabilize the emulsion. Differently,
NPs are mainly adsorbed on the oil−water interface to form a
particle film, thus stabilizing the emulsion. A schematic
comparison of surfactants and NPs stabilize emulsion is
shown in Figure 14b. In addition, some metallic oxide NPs can
also reduce the oil viscosity. When the viscosity of the injected
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nanofluid is higher than that of the oil in the reservoir, the
displacement process becomes more piston-like and the
displacement front is more uniform, resulting in higher
recovery rates. Conversely, when the injected fluid viscosity
is lower than the oil viscosity, flow control becomes poor,
resulting in lower recovery rates.159,160 The potential of NPs to
prevent asphaltene precipitation is described in section 3.3.2.
Depending on the reservoir, temperature, and NP type, the
selection of NPs and their optimal concentration are critical to
oil displacement efficiency and cost. Commonly used NPs are
listed in Table 3.
Nanosized oil displacement agents have proven their
potential in EOR for diverse types of crude oil and reservoir
conditions. The size and shape of NPs, the dispersion medium,
the concentration of NPs and core permeability are the
controlling factors to perfect the effectiveness of the oil
displacement agent. Some researchers have conducted relevant
studies. For example, Taborda et al.161 conducted heavy oil
core displacement experiments with nanofluids. The results
deliver that the addition of NPs promotes the fluidity of heavy
oil and enhances oil recovery by about 16%. Increasing the
concentration of NPs to 10,000 PPM leads to 90% viscosity
reduction compared with no NPs. However, the effect of
reducing the viscosity of heavy oil will be weakened by
injecting a higher concentration of NPs. Based on the volume
of fluid method and combined with experimentally measured
IFT, contact angle and viscosity values, a numerical simulation
of nanofluid displacement in cores with different permeability
was carried out by Minakov et al.162,163 to study the effects of
displacement fluid flow rate, crude oil viscosity and core
permeability on nanofluid displacement efficiency. The results
reveal that nanosuspension is the most effective method for
EOR in low permeability heavy oil reservoirs. The greater the
velocity and oil viscosity, or the lower the permeability of the
reservoir rock, the more distinct the recovery effect of
nanofluids.
The problems such as easy agglomeration of NPs and
difficult control of hydrophilicity and lipophilicity bring
resistance to EOR. Therefore, the stable dispersion of NPs is
a key parameter for the success of nanofluid-EOR. A stable and
dispersed nanofluid system is prepared by adding NPs to the
base fluid and then mixing the two evenly with instruments
(e.g., stirrers, homogeneous mixers, super processing, etc.). It is
found that the changes of NPs, dispersive media and treatment
conditions may cause agglomeration of particles and surface
damage in the process of agitator and ultrasonic treatment,
which affects the characteristics of nanofluids, so some
coordination and optimization methods were developed.164,165
It is also an option to improve the dispersion stability of NPs
by using special dispersion media or new composite nanoma-
terials. For instance, Hamedi-Shokrlu and Babadagli166 studied
the effect of surfactants (sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate
(SDBS), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and
Tergitol Np-9) addition on the stability of nickel NPs during
EOR process. The results show that CTAB and SDBS cannot
stabilize nickel NPs because they cannot provide the required
ζ-potential to prevent van der Waals attraction. They can only
provide surface charge modification, but this is necessary for
particle transfer. The stability of SiO2 NPs mixed with saline
solution (NaCl and MgCl2) during oil displacement was
studied by Keykhosravi and Simjoo.167 The results indicate
that MgCl2 has a negative effect on the stability of SiO2
nanofluids compared with NaCl. The strength of the repulsive
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force between SiO2 particles in MgCl2 is weaker than that in
NaCl, resulting in poor stability of SiO 2 nanofluids.
Furthermore, there may be a correlation between the stability
of SiO2 nanofluids and their EOR potential, depending on the
type and concentration of salt. The presence of salts affects the
effective concentration of NPs dispersed in the aqueous phase
and also controls the size of NPs. As pointed out by
Shamsijazeyi et al.,168 polymer coatings may have substantial
advantages in regulating the surface properties, stability and
responsiveness of NPs. Temizel et al.169 developed a nanoscale
smart polymer. The NPs can be injected at a controlled rate to
reduce the loss of polymer viscosity and thus disperse the
nanosize oil displacement agent more steadily in the reservoir.
When the temperature reaches LCST value, the network
structure can be formed and the fluidity ratio of crude oil can
be reduced.
At present, although mechanisms for EOR with various
nanosized oil displacement agents have been proposed, many
microscale and nanoscale behaviors remain unclear. In order to
illuminate the mechanisms under different reservoir con-
ditions, the microscopic mechanisms of EOR with nanosized
agents have been studied in detail. Yang and Guo170 proposed
a hybrid computing method combining LBM and cellular
automata model to simulate wettability changes during
nanofluid displacement. Wettability changes play a consid-
erable role in displacement behavior. For a small driving force,
neutral particles can accelerate wetting at an early stage, but
lipophilic particles cannot. When the driving force is high, the
phenomenon is the opposite. In a steady state, both neutral
and lipophilic particles prevent the wetting phase from moving.
Bila and Torsæter171 explored fluid, fluid-rock dynamic
interaction and fluid transport operation in the presence of
NPs. The results demonstrate that due to the deposition of the
rock surface, hydrophilic NPs can gradually change the
microscopic distribution of fluid and the surface roughness
and wettability of rock are altered to a more hydrophilic state,
which is a vital mechanism for the field scale application. Lei et
al.172 reported that a nanoflooding agent (iNanoW1.0) can
expand the swept volume of small and medium pores in
ultralow permeability cores. The reason is that NPs can
effectively weaken the ability of hydrogen bond association
between water molecules, so that the fluid is easier to enter the
low permeability region that cannot be affected by conven-
tional water injection, thus achieving EOR. Chang et al.173
investigated the oil displacement potential of different NPs
(hydrophilic NPs, Janus NPs, and lipophilic NPs) from a
microscopic perspective. The results display that hydrophilic
and Janus NPs can displace more trapped oil from rough
channels, while hydrophobic NPs have weak displacement
ability and threaten the possibility of channel clogging. Figure
18 shows residual oil molecules inside the whole channel in the
displacement process.
In addition, NPs have shown an amazing ability to assist
other EOR technologies (coupling with surfactants and
polymers, enhancing foam stability, assisting water/gas
alternate flooding, assisting steam flooding, etc.). These
technologies are described separately in the relevant sections
and are not covered in detail in this section.
Nanosized oil displacement agent flooding and NP-assisted
other EOR technologies can be applied to many types of crude
oil and reservoirs. With the improvement of NP flooding
research, new challenges are emerging. Although NP flooding
has various efficient applications in the petroleum industry,
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Figure 18. Residual oil molecules inside the whole channel in the
displacement process. Reproduced with permission from ref 173.
Copyright 2022 Elsevier.
there are still crucial challenges related to the mechanism
analysis of NP flooding, especially NP flooding and viscosity
reduction mechanisms at micro/nanopore scales in reservoirs,
which should be overcome to further enhanced oil recovery.
3.2.3. Microemulsion Flooding. Microemulsions, which are
systems of thermodynamically stable and optically isotropic
liquids, are formed from multiple components. There are three
basic types of microemulsions, namely, oil dispersed in water
(O/W), water dispersed in oil (W/O), and bicontinuous.174
The principles of the three types are shown in Figure 19.
Figure 19. Type of microemulsion: (a) oil dispersed in water (O/W),
(b) water dispersed in oil (W/O), (c) bicontinuous.
Microemulsions are characterized by small particle size,
ultralow interfacial tension, high capacitive capacity, thermo-
dynamic stability, etc.175 The differences between micro-
emulsions and other emulsions are shown in Table 4.
There have been many advances in researching micro-
emulsion formulations in the laboratory. Dantas et al.176
investigated the effect of acidic microemulsions on oil recovery
from carbonate reservoirs. The results showed that acidic
microemulsions could increase the total crude oil recovery by
30%. Neuma de Castro Dantas et al.177 prepared a micro-
emulsion system containing the polymer HPAM. The
microemulsion system exhibited excellent wetting inversion
Table 4. Comparison of Different Emulsions
name particle size emulsifier concentration
coarse emulsions 1−10 μm low
nanoemulsions 20−500 μm medium
microemulsions 10−100 μm high
swollen micelle <50 nm just above the critical micelle
solution concentration
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ability, and the final recovery rate was about 97%. Aum et al.178
investigated the effect of HCl on the properties of micro-
emulsions for EOR. The results indicated that the stability of
microemulsions in carbonate reservoirs was enhanced under
acidic conditions, which enabled the microemulsions to stably
promote the movement of oil droplets. Qin et al.179
investigated the effect of nanoparticle-stabilized microemul-
sions on displacement in nonhomogeneous rocks. The results
demonstrated that the oil droplets were emulsified into smaller
sizes by the cooperative effect of nanoparticles and micro-
emulsions, which improved the recovery rate. Nourafkan et
al.180 studied the effect of the addition of magnetic Fe2O3 and
TiO2 NPs to W/O microemulsions on displacement. The
results showed that the stability of the microemulsion system
was enhanced with the addition of NPs, and the shear
characteristics of the microemulsion were improved.
At present, the research on microemulsion systems is still in
laboratory formulations and mine field tests, and there is less
research on application to oil fields. There are few studies on
the use of microemulsions for enhanced recovery in high-
temperature and high-salt reservoirs, which requires proper
adjustment of microemulsion formulations to enhance
recovery in such reservoirs. More importantly, it is necessary
to establish screening criteria for microemulsions with broad
applicability, which is a challenge for microemulsions.
3.2.4. Foam Flooding. Foam flooding is an oil displacement
method evolved based on alkaline/surfactant/polymer (ASP)
flooding, which can not only enhance the sweep and oil
displacement efficiency significantly but also avoid the
environmental damage caused by previous chemical flood-
ing.181 The foam consists of water, gas, and the foaming agent.
The water is fresh or saltwater. The gas can be nitrogen,
carbon dioxide, natural gas, flue gas, etc. The foaming agent is
mainly the surfactant. The surfactant adsorbs on the gas−liquid
surface to provide electrostatic repulsion or spatial resistance,
thus preventing the gathering and rupture of foam caused by
the proximity of liquid film, as shown in Figure 20. The foam
used for displacement can be divided into two forms: trapped
foam and flowing foam. The trapped foam remains stationary
in the displaced channel or oscillates in the retained position,
forcing the fluid to redirection to the unaffected area. The
flowing foam can produce flow resistance and boost the
apparent viscosity of the fluid by forming bubble trains in the
porous medium and separating pressure between capillary
force and liquid film.182,183 These two types of foam reduce the
adverse effects of reservoir heterogeneity, so as to accelerate
the macro sweep coefficient efficiently.184,185 Moreover, in
foam, gas is dispersed in the water phase, which slows gravity
separation and can overcome the problem of premature gas
penetration caused by gravity separation, thus improving oil
recovery. Interestingly, the pumping cost of foam flooding is
lower than that of other technologies.
appearance stability type
not transparent unstable O/W and W/O
transparent, translucent, or long-term dynamic O/W and W/O
opalescent stability
transparent, translucent thermodynamic O/W, W/O, and
stability bicontinuous
transparent thermodynamic micelle or reverse micelle
stability solution
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Figure 20. Surfactants in foam prevent the gather and rupture.
In the 1980s, foam flooding began to be applied in oil fields.
Steam foam flooding was the first.186−188 Bagheri189,190
performed experimental and simulation studies on steam
foam flooding. The results reveal that the mass and
condensation of steam affect the formation of foam, and the
propagation speed of the steam front is quicker than that of the
foam front. The higher foam displacement rate is not
conducive to enhancing oil recovery. M’barki et al.191
investigated the influence of rock microstructure and
mineralogy on the behavior of steam foam in the reservoir.
The results show that steam foam has the ability to reduce
fluidity in high permeable layers. The composition and
mineralogy of rock play an important role in foam generation,
propagation and destruction.
Since 1990, CO2 foam flooding has been applied more and
more, and novel agents have been developed gradually.
References 192−194 present provide examples of CO2 foam
flooding. The CO2 foam flooding agent using C12 as a foaming
agent was developed by Cui et al. and applied in high
temperature and salt reservoirs.195 In high temperature, high
salinity and carbonate cores, C12 and CO2 can produce
moderate strength foams, but high temperature (120 °C) is
not conducive to foam stability. Chen et al.193,196 systemati-
cally studied in situ CO2 foams (ISCF) flooding by combining
in situ CO2 gas reactants (anhydrous carbonate, hydrochloric
acid) and biosurfactant. Under the same injection conditions,
ISCF can produce obviously more oil than conventional foam
or foam-free in situ CO2 recoveries. ISCF can disperse acid in
heterogeneous layers, effectively reduce the IFT between the
replacement phases, and greatly increase the number of
capillaries.
N2 foam flooding is also a common technique. For example,
Zhao et al.197 studied a combination of integrating modified
starch gel and N2 flooding to enhance oil recovery. The
experimental results explain that the modified starch gel with
high viscosity can effectively block the high permeability
channel, and then promote the uniform migration of foam in
the medium, and finally make the remaining oil activity in the
low permeability layer, so as to achieve EOR by N2 foam
flooding. However, when the permeability exceeds 40, the
improvement of foam sweep and displacement efficiency
begins to slow down. Hou et al.48 confirmed that N2 foam is
beneficial to oil film stripping, crude oil emulsification, oil
droplet transport, etc. When the injection amount of N2 foam
reaches a certain value, the accumulation of N2 foam in the
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channel leads to a decrease of fluid flow, which inhibits gas
channeling and expands sweep efficiency.
Poor foam stability results in short life and stimulation
durations, so it is important to understand foam properties and
their interaction with oil before using foam flooding, to control
foam stability more accurately when it faces the oil phase. A
variety of additives have been developed to improve foam
stability, mainly NPs and special polymers.199 A technique
using polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated silica NPs as an
additive to improve foam stability was proposed and validated
by Hurtado et al.200 The results reveal that in the presence of
NPs, the diffusion rate of the gas slows, the film between
bubbles thickens, and the durability of the foam increases by
67%. Modified Fe3O4 NPs were used by Liu et al. as additives
to stabilize foam due to their hydrophobicity.27 Core flooding
experiments illuminate that the EOR rate of the system was
17.4%, and the system achieved higher pressure drop and
improved sweep area. Modified Fe3O4 NPs can not only
stabilize the foam efficiently, but also can be recovered by a
magnetic field and reused, and three times of recovery is the
best. Ahmed et al.201 investigated the improvement of the
stability of CO2 foam flooding by associating polymer, namely
Superpusher B 192. A slight increase in foam apparent viscosity
was observed in experiments using conventional polymers at
intensified reservoir conditions (temperature, pressure and
salinity), while associated polymers had a significant effect on
the apparent viscosity of CO2 foam. As a consequence, high
viscosity polymers help to provide precise control of the high
fluidity of foam in high pressure, high temperature and high
salt reservoirs. Zhang et al.202 studied the stable oil
displacement performance of CO2 foam under high temper-
ature and pressure. Octadecyl dippo triamine (ODPTA) was
used as a foaming agent in this study to stabilize CO2 foams.
The results demonstrate that the CO2 foam formed by
ODPTA has high-temperature resistance (160 °C), and its
stability is significantly enhanced compared with traditional
surfactants. This is attributed to the high viscosity of ODPTA
solutions, which results in lower foam film drainage rates and
higher foam stability. In Ding’s experiments,198 an alkyl
polyglycoside (APG) surfactant was selected, and the best
foam content was found to be about 60−70%. APG is a good
candidate for EOR by foam flooding in medium temperature
with high saline salinity and hardness reservoirs, due to its
excellent thermal stability and low oil distribution at reservoir
temperature (55 °C). Figure 21 depicts the liquid lamellae
while flowing through a pore constriction. As we all know,
lauryl betaine is not a good foaming agent, but its addition can
remarkably improve the stability of APG in crude oil.
Some chemical flooding applications in the middle and high
water-bearing reservoirs are limited by several factors, such as
operating costs and construction techniques, which makes
foam flooding an EOR technology with low cost, simple
process and high recovery. There have been steam foam
flooding, N2 foam flooding, CO2 foam flooding and other
methods, and the foam stability has been constantly optimized.
Foam properties and stability may be influenced by reservoir
inhomogeneity, so the study of dynamic parameters, such as
reservoir structure and fracture direction and orientation, are
necessary. However, less work has been done on the dynamic
parameters of foam flow in reservoir porous media, which will
be a challenging task.
3.3. Gas Flooding. Compared with water injection, gas
injection can promote injection capacity and thus augment the
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Figure 21. Schematic of a liquid drop (lamella) while flowing through
a constriction for liquid films stabilized by (a) APG surfactant and (b)
APG and LB surfactant. Reproduced with permission from ref 198.
Copyright 2022 Elsevier.
oil recovery rate.203 Conventional injection gases include air,
N2, CO2, and flue gas, with N2 and CO2 being the most
common.
Although gas flooding has been widely used in oil fields to
enhance recovery, the recovery efficiency varies in different
countries and fields. This depends on reservoir conditions, gas
injection methods, and gas properties. This section will
introduce the research progress of different gas flooding
technologies.
3.3.1. Air Flooding. Air flooding is the injection of air into
the reservoir at high pressure. This not only helps maintain or
increase formation pressure but also oxidizes the oil with
oxygen in the air.204,205 The oxidation reaction releases some
of the heat while producing other gases, such as N2. When
some gases dissolve in crude oil, the volume of the oil expands,
resulting in a decrease in the viscosity of the oil. Moreover,
under certain conditions, the oxidation reaction between air
and crude oil will produce flue gas, which can form near
miscible displacement with crude oil.206 Besides, for some
unique reservoirs (extremely thick or inclined layered
reservoirs), gravity flooding can be achieved by injecting air
at the top of the well.
Air injection oil recovery technology was first used to
supplement reservoir energy. Since the 1960s, air flooding in
light reservoirs was generally regarded as an efficient and
universal technique, so a great deal of research work has been
done on air flooding.207 Sakthikumar et al.208 proved the
feasibility of evaluating the injection of air into water flooding
in light oil reservoirs in 1995. They proposed that if air
injection was regarded as immiscible nitrogen or flue gas
flooding, the mechanism of air injection cannot be accurately
simulated. However, Fraim et al.209 carried out experiments
and simulations of EOR by high-pressure air injection based on
the treatment of high-pressure air injection as a miscible flue
gas process, showing an augmentation in oil recovery of 4.5−
6.6%. Similarly, Fassihi et al.210 applied air flooding as flue gas
flooding to Medicine Pole Hills Unit oilfield and Medicine
Pole Hills Unit oilfield and conducted an economic analysis.
The two fields facilitated their recovery by 14 and 16%,
respectively.
The mechanism of air flooding to augment EOR in light
reservoirs is low-temperature oxidation and flue gas flooding:
the crude oil reacts with injected air to consume O2, and the
flue gas (mainly composed of CO2 and N2) is generated to
drive the crude oil to the production well. In recent years,
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instead of treating air injection as nitrogen or flue gas flooding,
researchers have performed displacement experiments and
simulations by directly using air as a medium. Some new
breakthroughs have been made in the study of light oil
reservoirs by air flooding EOR in various aspects. the air
displacement potential of light oil reservoirs through experi-
ments and numerical simulations is investigated by Pu et al.211
The results show that updip air injection is better than
downdip air injection to improve oil recovery. In addition,
earlier air injection can increase oil production from light oil
reservoirs. However, for mature reservoirs, injected air to high
permeability zones will reduce EOR performance due to early
gas breakout. Jia and Sheng207 used reservoir simulation to
analyze the mechanism and influencing factors of air
displacement in conventional light oil reservoirs. The analyses
reveal that the recovery factor is sensitive to the oxygen
content in the air and the geological structure of the reservoir.
The performance of updip air is better than that of downdip
air. In addition, the influence of reservoir heterogeneity on air
flooding process of light oil reservoirs was studied by numerical
simulation.212 Reservoir heterogeneity has a great influence on
air flooding, especially in heterogeneous reservoirs with dip
angles. The results indicate that injection of air and nitrogen
into the updip leads to reduced recovery as reservoir
heterogeneity increases, which is contrary to previous studies.
Reservoir heterogeneity can sometimes play a positive role in
improving displacement efficiency and production perform-
ance. The well type has little effect on air injection
performance in extremely heterogeneous reservoirs, but the
use of horizontal production wells is beneficial to improving air
displacement oil in homogeneous reservoirs. The team also
studied the non-equilibrium process of air displacement EOR
in different reservoir conditions, which take into account the
dissolution of oxygen and evaporation of light components in
crude oil.213 The results display that the unbalanced behavior
has a significant influence on the EOR of the low permeability
reservoir. Therefore, non-equilibrium behavior needs to be
considered when modeling air injection EOR in light
reservoirs.
The oxygen content of air also plays an important role on
the oil displacement process. Li et al.214 conducted displace-
ment experiments of air with different oxygen levels in low
permeability cores to study low-temperature oxidation of crude
oil under different temperature and pressure conditions to
improve air flooding recovery. The results demonstrate that
with the growth of oxygen concentration, more crude oil can
be driven at higher temperatures and pressure, but the
influence of oxygen concentration on oil displacement
efficiency is the opposite at lower reaction temperatures. Qi
et al.215 combined oxygen-reduced air displacement experi-
ments with nuclear magnetic resonance technology to analyze
recovery. The results illustrate that the low-temperature
oxidation reaction between crude oil and oxygen-reduced air
can produce a lot of heat energy, CO, CO2, and CH4, and form
flue gas flooding in the reservoir, which has the effects of
miscibility, viscosity reduction, IFT reduction, and oil
expansion promotion.
As traditional oil production declines and technology
advances, tight reservoirs are becoming important contributors
to the global oil supply.216 Therefore, air displacement in tight
oil reservoirs has been studied. Feng et al.217 conducted air
displacement laboratory experiments in Longdong Chang-7
tight reservoirs to investigate the minimum pore throat radius
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Figure 22. Diagram of (a) asphaltene deposition onto the matrix surface and (b) NPs preventing asphaltene precipitation.
that can be swept by gas during air displacement. The
experimental results deliver that the higher the displacement
pressure difference is, the higher the displacement efficiency is.
It is also found that the larger the displacement pressure
difference is, the smaller the throat working radius is. When the
displacement pressure difference reaches 6 MPa, the gas
driving radius is basically stable. Liu et al.218 carried out
comparative experiments of air injection and nitrogen injection
core flooding in tight reservoirs under temperature and
pressure conditions, and evaluated the EOR performance of
air injection. The experimental results report that air injection
recovery is significantly higher than nitrogen injection
recovery. For air injection displacement, at 60 °C and 16
MPa, the heat released from the oxygen addition reaction leads
to bond-breaking reaction. Oxygen addition reaction and
bond-breaking reaction after air injection can reduce oil
viscosity and thus increase its fluidity. The gas produced by the
bond-breaking reaction together with the remaining N2 in the
air forms the flue gas replacement front.
Compared with chemical flooding, air flooding has the
advantages of lower operating costs, wider reservoir adapt-
ability, higher economic benefits and less environmental
impact. It is important to note that proper control of air
injection and flow rate is necessary during air flooding because
high oxygen content in the reservoir can cause oil viscosity and
explosion.
3.3.2. CO2 Flooding. CO2 does not support combustion and
has stable performance, so it is widely used in oil displace-
ment.219 CO2 flooding can greatly increase the production of
crude oil. CO2 diffuses the molecules in the crude oil, reducing
its tension and increasing its flow.220,221 CO2 also improves the
permeability of crude oil. Carbonic acid is produced in the
process of carbon dioxide injection so that the blockage in the
pore throat is dissolved by carbonic acid to dredge the pores,
which promotes the flow of crude oil and enhances the
exploitation capacity and production of crude oil. However, in
CO2 flooding, the lighter components of the crude oil flow
from the reservoir easily, but the heavier components
(asphaltenes) settle on the rock surface and alter the
wettability, further reducing the efficiency of CO2 flooding.222
If NPs are added, the asphaltene can be adsorbed to the surface
of the NPs, which minimizes the damage of asphaltene
precipitation.223 Figure 22 depicts asphaltenes deposition onto
the matrix surface and NPs preventing asphaltene precip-
itation.
Compared with other EOR technologies for medium and
low permeability reservoirs, CO2 flooding can enhance oil
recovery and bury CO2 underground to reduce the greenhouse
effect. Therefore, CO2 flooding is widely used to enhance oil
recovery. In the 1960s, the CO2-EOR project was gradually
carried out, and decent performances were achieved by using
CO2 flooding to enhance oil recovery.224,225 In 1979, Sigmund
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et al.226 conducted theoretical modeling and laboratory
experiments on CO2 flooding in reservoirs. In 1985, the visual
results of the laboratory physical model experiment of high-
pressure CO2 flooding were reported by Campbell and Orr.227
In the absence of water, CO2 displacement efficiency was much
higher regardless of first contact or multiple contact miscible
flooding. In 2011, Choiri and Hamouda228 studied the CO2
displacement under pressure, temperature and composition
changes according to the principle that CO2 is more soluble in
oil than water, and established a corresponding theoretical
model based on Flory−Huggins polymer−solution theory and
Hildebrand solubility concept.
With the development of science and technology, CO2
flooding has been made a comprehensive study of mechanism
research in recent years. Lei et al.229−231 performed a detailed
study of precipitation during CO2 flooding in low permeability
reservoirs. The results explain that the damage degree of
asphaltene precipitation and inorganic precipitation to the
reservoir grows to a peak and then declines, and reaches the
maximum in the middle of the reservoir (Figure 23 describes
Figure 23. Permeability reduction of organic (asphaltene) deposition
and inorganic deposition. Reproduced with permission from ref 231.
Copyright 2017 Elsevier.
the permeability reduction of organic (asphaltene) deposition
and inorganic deposition.). Asphaltene precipitation is the
primary damage factor in the miscible condition, while the
damage in nonmiscible conditions principally comes from
inorganic precipitation. Based on the research outcomes, they
also designed basic reservoir damage prevention strategies
under relative conditions. Wei et al.232 conducted a visual
experimental study on the interaction and phase behavior
between CO2 and oil phase in the process of CO2 flooding.
Experimental data reveal that the solubility of CO2 is
proportional to pressure and in inverse proportion to
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Figure 24. Effects of temperature and nanoparticles types (CaO and SiO2) on asphaltene precipitations in the presence of CO2 during natural
depletion. Reproduced with permission from ref 238. Copyright 2018 IFP.
temperature and oil density. At a given temperature, this
parameter rises steadily with pressure until the oil phase is
saturated with CO2. In the miscible phase, the composition of
the gas phase is quite similar to that of the oil phase, except for
some heavy fractions (i.e., asphaltenes). At the same time, they
also presented the implementation method of CO2 recycling
injection to enhance oil recovery. Lu et al.233 took rectangular
rough silica surface as an example to conduct molecular
observation of the function of surface roughness on CO2
flooding. The results deliver that the CO2 molecule can be
tightly attached to the silica surface, which causes the oil to
quickly detach from the rough raised surface of the silica.
However, for oil molecules in the grooves, especially in wider
and deeper grooves, more oil molecules are trapped and it
takes longer for them to spill out of the grooves, resulting in an
apparently lower recovery rate.
The application of CO2 flooding in oil field production is
being studied continuously and various results are achieved.
Ding et al.234 carried out CO2 flooding experiments in
fractured reservoirs. The results demonstrate that the principle
oil recovery mechanism of fractured reservoirs is that crude oil
expands at the initial stage of CO2 injection and gradually shifts
to light and intermediate components. Besides, increased
fracture density results in additional recovery. Moreover, they
provided some reliable production plans. Valluri et al.235
studied core characterization and oil displacement experiments
of Ohio oil reservoir in the laboratory. The results illustrate
that miscible CO2 injection can enhance the recovery of the
Ohio Oil reservoir by 50% to 180% compared to the primary
recovery. However, alternate water−gas injection reduced and
delayed incremental production from the tight reservoir in the
Ohio Oil reservoir. CO2 displacement is better than water−gas
injection. Afanasyev et al.236 investigated the influence of oil
field life on the optimal CO2 displacement strategy during
microdisplacement. The factors considered include oil price,
CO2 injection cost, CO2 storage efficiency, CO2 injection rate,
reservoir relative permeability, oil recovery factor, etc.
Nevertheless, CO2 storage efficiency and oil recovery are
estimated and the results can be biased. Wang et al.237 studied
the geological factors affecting the efficiency of CO2 injection
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in low permeability reservoirs. The results show that the sand
body connection, natural fracture and high permeability zone
coupling are the key geological factors controlling the
efficiency of CO2 injection in low permeability reservoirs.
Among them, sand body connection is the most crucial control
factor of CO2 flooding.
In CO2 flooding, asphaltene precipitation may occur in
various reservoir positions, leading to permeability decline,
tubing blockage, equipment damage, etc. Thus, preventing
asphaltene precipitation is a vital problem to be solved in CO2
flooding. It has been found that asphaltenes can be adsorbed
on the surface of NPs (such as NiO, Fe3O4, CaO, SiO2,
Al2O3), resulting in precipitation reduction.238−241 Ahmadi
and Aminshahidy238 observed the effects of CaO and SiO2 NPs
concentration and CO2 concentration at different temperatures
on asphaltene precipitation. The results illuminate that
asphaltene precipitation decreases with increasing temperature
at constant CO2 concentration. CaO is more effective than
SiO2 in applications to prevent asphaltene precipitation. Effects
of temperature and nanoparticles types (CaO and SiO2) on
asphaltene precipitations in the presence of CO2 are shown in
Figure 24. Lu et al.240 explored the application of Al2O3 NPs to
prevent asphaltene deposition during CO2 flooding. The
injection of Al2O3 nanofluid can inhibit asphaltene deposition
on the surface of porous media to decline the decrease of oil
permeability. Moreover, continuous CO2 and nanofluid
injection are more efficient than cyclic injection.
CO2 flooding is one of the most effective technologies in
medium and low permeability reservoirs. The International
Energy Agency estimates that oil resources suitable for CO2
flooding are about 300 to 600 billion barrels globally.242 So far,
the main research topics of CO2 flooding are mechanism,
influencing factors, prevention of asphaltene precipitation, etc.
However, the CO2 flooding technology still has some
disadvantages, such as CO2 leakage, device corrosion, and
fracture. Accordingly, CO2 flooding technology, which has
both economic and environmental benefits, has great develop-
ment potential in extending of plant life, leakage, and CO2
sequestration technology.
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3.3.3. N2 Flooding. N2 comes from a wide range of sources
and brings no pollution or corrosive effects in the application
process. Therefore, N2 has more merits in production and
application than other energy sources, which pushes it to
become the core content of existing gas injection for oil
displacement.243 N2 is insoluble in water and less soluble in oil,
so continuous injection of nitrogen can increase the number of
contact between gas and crude oil, forming immiscible
flooding.244 The immiscible nature between N2 and crude oil
is used to form an artificial gas cap so that the remaining oil at
the top of the reservoir and the pores, which cannot be affected
by water, can be displaced by gravity displacement.245 The
injected N2 can also drive the miscible gas slug to form a
miscible displacement, which is better than continuous N2
injection when the slug size is applicable. Furthermore, N2
injection into the reservoir can keep pressure within a certain
range to increase recovery.
CO2 resources are limited and harmful to the formation to
some extent. After the air is injected into the reservoir, the
oxygen produced during the production process can also be
corrosive to the production equipment and strata. Therefore,
the injection of chemically inactive N2 to enhance oil recovery
was proposed. In the middle of the 20th century, N2 flooding
has been applied to EOR globally, and some apparent benefits
have been discovered.246,247 For example, N2 flooding was
carried out in 1981 at Jay oilfield, and nitrogen removal was
added.248 N2 injection was also implemented in Yanling
oilfield, and the oil recovery was increased by 19−30%.249
Miscible flooding of N2 by high-pressure injection in naturally
fractured carbonate reservoirs is explored by Mungan et al.250
The results illuminate that, compared with immiscible gas
injection, the injection of miscible gas into naturally fractured
reservoirs with low permeability can distinctly reduce the
injection pressure and recover more oil. Furthermore,
according to the laboratory test results, the N2 injection test
was carried out in a small volume single well, and the average
daily oil production increased by 3 m3 under miscible
conditions.
N2 flooding is often used as an alternative to CO2 flooding.
However, the limitations of this approach require constant
high pressure and temperature so that the gas can dissolve into
the reservoir fluid. Accordingly, N2-EOR experiments were
conducted under high pressure to investigate various influences
affecting N2 flooding (fractures, reservoir conditions, temper-
ature, gas/oil ratio, etc.) and to provide some reasonable
recommendations for enhancing oil recovery. Song et al.251
performed visual experiments and numerical simulations of N2
flooding in fractured carbonate reservoirs, and discussed the
mechanism of fluid flow in fracture models. In the N2-EOR
process of a single fracture, fracture aperture and gas injection
rate will affect the displacement morphology. Under a certain
aperture, the higher the velocity, the greater the viscosity, and
the more unstable the viscous fingering, which leads to the
reduction of the displacement effect. Based on the outcomes,
they established an N2-EOR prediction model for a single
fracture fluid flow zone. Fahandezhsaadi et al.252 investigated
the effect of pressure and induced fractures on N2-EOR in
fractured reservoirs. The results indicate that the recovery rate
decreases with the increase of pressure difference and fracture.
The effect of fractures on recovery is more pronounced at
lower pressure differentials, while the effect of pressure
differentials is stronger without fractures. In addition, they
further elucidated the impact of fractures on the core to assess
2555
Review
displacement behavior and recovery rates. The outcomes
display that over 40% oil recovery can be achieved by injecting
N2 into unfractured cores even under immiscible conditions.
Lyu et al.253 interpreted the mechanism and influencing factors
of enhancing oil recovery by N2 flooding in a fracture−vuggy
carbonate reservoir through physical model experiment and
numerical simulation. The results reveal that, the remaining
reserves of gas injection wells, filling level, well reservoir
relationship and bottom water energy and other geological
conditions play a considerable role in the reservoir develop-
ment effect. Circulating gas injection and gas injection rate are
the main recovery parameters of well gas injection. Moreover,
according to the research results, they put forward the principle
of gas injection displacement for fracture−vuggy carbonate
reservoirs, that is, selecting wells according to reservoir type,
reserve scale, wellbore type and reservoir relationship.
Viocencio and Sepehrnoori254 studied the function of
temperature and density on gas migration in N2 flooding by
establishing a heterogeneous conceptual model and analyzing
numerical simulation. The results confirm that the migration of
N2 in the formation is slowed down by the decrease of density
due to the increase of temperature. However, due to the
intensification of gravity effect caused by the decrease of
density during the migration of N2, N2 floats up obviously and
enters the oil−gas interface. Malinda et al.255 investigated the
effects of temperature and gas/oil ratio on oil recovery and
dissolution during high-pressure nitrogen injection. The results
indicate that, the recovery efficiency of the N2 displacement
system is related to the gas−oil ratio, that is, the higher the
gas−oil ratio, the higher the recovery efficiency, but recovery is
not affected by the temperature of the reservoir system.
With the continuous improvement of nitrogen production
technology and the constant decrease of nitrogen production
cost, the development advantage of N2 flooding is more and
more evident. However, some research results show that pure
N2 displacement is prone to viscous finger-pointing. Therefore,
N2 foam displacement has attracted more and more attention
in recent years. N2 foam flooding is a feasible displacement
method according to the experimental and practical results.
Note that foam flooding is covered in section 3.2.3.
3.3.4. Flue Gas Flooding. Flue gas is the product of organic
matter such as natural gas, crude oil, or coal generated after
complete combustion. Flue gas flooding is not as effective as
CO2 and the economic cost is not as reasonable as N2, so the
development of flue gas flooding was slow in the initial stage.
Later, scholars found that flue gas flooding can achieve
resource reuse, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and
improve oil recovery.256,257 Therefore, flue gas is paid attention
to again in oil displacement.
The flue gas contains CO2 and N2, so the oil displacement
mechanism is similar to carbon dioxide flooding and nitrogen
flooding.258 On the one hand, CO2 in flue gas dissolved in
crude oil reduces the viscosity of crude oil, and the carbonic
acid formed by CO2 dissolved in the formation water can
dissolve some mineral components in rock, which enlarges the
porosity of mineral particles and thus increases the
permeability of oil reservoir. N2 in flue gas, on the other
hand, also enhances oil recovery through immiscible flooding
due to its special solubility and gravity differentiation. In
addition, the solubilization of the active components of flue
gas, CO2 and N2, enables the crude oil to obtain a large
amount of elastic energy, thus providing power for EOR.
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Figure 25. (a) Ultimate recovery and (b) gas−oil ratio of the field for all scenarios of injection. Reproduced with permission from ref 261.
Copyright 2015 Elsevier.
The oil displacement efficiency of flue gas is between N2
flooding and CO2 flooding, which is better than N2 flooding,
but worse than CO2. The application of flue gas flooding was
first explored in the 1960s due to the rising price of natural gas.
In 1999, Srivastava et al.259 took samples from the Senlac oil
pool and conducted displacement experiments to evaluate the
suitability and effectiveness of three injected gases (CO2,
produced gas and flue gas) for enhanced heavy oil recovery.
The results deliver that CO2 is the best recovery agent and flue
gas is an effective oil displacement agent. Dong and Huang260
also sampled in Senlac oil pool and conducted two-dimen-
sional physical simulation experiments to study the effects of
injection rate, injection method and slug size on the oil
recovery of flue gas flooding. The experimental results show
that vertical injection is the most effective gas injection
strategy, followed by horizontal injection, and vertical injection
is the least efficient. It is expected that higher efficiency can be
achieved by three types of flue gas injection at low rates. For
slug sizes, the use of smaller sizes is expected to provide more
cost-effective oil recovery. In addition, the mechanism of free
gas in the process of flue gas injection was studied. The specific
conclusion is that, for the heavy oil−flue gas system, the gas
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phase material has a large relative volume and exists in the
form of free gas in the process of multiple contacts. Ahmadi et
al.261 carried out a comparative study of EOR technologies
related to gas flooding in an Iranian oilfield to analyze the
feasibility of EOR by flue gas flooding. Based on the output
results of numerical simulation, the largest oil recovery rate is
injected flue gas, followed by N2, natural gas and CO2
injection. The lowest production gas−oil ratio in the reservoir
is for flue gas injection, where gas breakthrough is delayed
significantly even at the highest rate of injection. Ultimate
recovery and gas−oil ratio are shown in Figure 25.
Similarly, flue gas flooding for EOR has achieved some
satisfactory performance in China, mainly represented by
Liaohe and Karamay oil fields.262,263 In addition, flue gas
flooding is also being attempted in offshore oil fields. Chen et
al.256 conducted laboratory physical simulation experiments
with crude oil collected from Bohai offshore oil field, and
systematically analyzed the effects of matrix permeability and
fractures on flue gas flooding under low permeability or tight
conditions. The experimental results illuminate that the matrix
permeability has a prominent effect, that is, the migration of
crude oil from large to medium pores is more obvious in the
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Figure 26. Production performance and the stage divisions during steam flooding. Reproduced with permission from ref 266. Copyright 2021
Elsevier.
core with high matrix permeability than in the core with low
matrix permeability. After flue gas injection, oil in the
macropores is produced in large quantities from fractures
and tight cores. Nevertheless, for the application of flue gas
flooding in offshore fields, flue gas-assisted steam flooding is
more suitable, as described in Section 3.4.
Flue gas flooding technology can enhance oil recovery and
decline greenhouse gas emissions. At present, the research on
flue gas flooding mechanism and process operation is gradually
becoming mature, and the economic and environmental
benefits are also gradually prominent. In addition to reducing
oil viscosity, the EOR mechanism of flue gas flooding also has
the effects of increasing solubility, gravity differentiation, and
enhancing rock permeability. The key to flue gas flooding is
flue gas treatment, mainly including flue gas desulfurization,
denitration, drying and dust removal.
3.4. Steam Flooding. Steam flooding is a thermal recovery
method adopted to improve oil recovery after Steam Huff and
Puff in Heavy Oil Reservoirs.264 As the steam is injected, the
reservoir temperature rises, causing the oil to expand and the
viscosity of oil and water to decrease, which increases the
water/oil fluidity ratio. The injection of high-temperature and
-pressure steam increases the reservoir temperature and
decreases the boiling point temperature of the reservoir fluid.
When the temperature is equal to or exceeds the boiling point
temperature of the mixture, the mixture will boil, causing oil to
be stripped and thus transferring oil from dead pores to
connected pores, which increases the chance of oil displace-
ment.265 Furthermore, the fraction from the steam-distillation
is carried through the steam region and hot water areas to
condense at a lower temperature region. The light fraction of
condensate is mixed with and diluted with the oil from the
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reservoir, reducing the density and viscosity of the oil. As the
steam front advances, so does the light fraction of condensate,
resulting in miscible flooding.264 As the steam front temper-
ature rises, dissolved gas or CO2 is generated from the
formation, and oil separates from oil and expands, thus
becoming the driving force of oil recovery.
Steam flooding is proposed from water flooding. Two
concepts are similar, but steam flooding brings more heat to
the reservoir.1 Unlike the three methods described above,
steam flooding is mainly used to enhance oil recovery in heavy
oil reservoirs. In steam flooding, heavy oil is heated to
hydrocarbons by the hot steam injected into wells, and then is
pushed into production wells by the steam. The main
mechanism of steam flooding, which included oil viscosity
reduction, relative fluid changes, steam discharges, and
emulsification behavior, was analyzed by Coats based on
simulation results.267 A series of experiments conducted by
Pang et al.266 revealed that the four stages of steam flooding
correspond to expansion, propulsion, channeling and over-
running of steam chambers. Also, the oil recovery factors
continue to increase during the four stages. Figure 26 presents
the production performance and the stage divisions during
steam flooding. Qu et al.268 studied the influence of reservoir
heterogeneity on steam flooding development results and
found that permeability heterogeneity had the greatest
influence, followed by thickness, and geometry had the least
influence. Yu269 reported that the steam injection dryness has a
positive effect on the steam flooding effect. The higher the
dryness of the wellhead steam in the steam injection well, the
higher the dryness of the steam reaching the reservoir, and the
better the steam flooding performance. Zhao270 explored the
feasibility of steam flooding under high pressure through
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indoor physical simulation experiments. The results show that
with the increase of steam mass under high pressure, the steam
chamber formation time is shortened and the steam chamber
expansion distance is extended, which improves the recovery
rate.
Although steam flooding is a famous thermal recovery
method and has achieved satisfactory results in large-scale
industrial heavy oil recovery, its further application and
development are restricted by expensive operation costs and
high steam oil ratio. Consequently, the feasibility of another
technology-assisted steam flooding for EOR has been
demonstrated by experiments and simulations. Liu et al.271
conducted an experimental study on air-assisted steam
flooding. The results show that the continuous air/steam
injection method is suitable for air-assisted steam flooding, and
the steam/gas ratio is close to 1:40, which can achieve high
recovery. Feng et al.272 compared the impact of four N2-
assisted steam flooding methods (steam flooding, steam
flooding coupled with continuous nitrogen injection, coupled
with intermittent nitrogen injection, coupled with nitrogen slug
injection) on oilfield production. The results illuminate that
intermittent nitrogen injection-assisted steam flooding is the
most suitable method. The influence of remaining oil
saturation on production performance is greater than that of
crude oil viscosity, net to gross ratio of the reservoir, reservoir
pressure and steam channeling. Alomair and Alajmi273 used
nanofluid-assisted steam injection to enhance oil recovery. The
results demonstrate that the thermophysical properties of
hydrophilic NPs improve the thermal performance of super-
heated steam injection, increase the fluidity of crude oil, and
make it easier to push the oil to production wells. Huang et
al.274 studied the horizontal well solvent-enhanced steam
flooding (HW-SESF). Compared with conventional steam
flooding, HW-SESF can effectively reduce oil viscosity in the
front and inside the steam chamber and increase the swept area
of the steam chamber. Medium solvent has the best steam
chamber optimization effect and the highest recovery rate
compared with light solvent and heavy solvent. Al-Saedi et
al.275 proved the feasibility of combining low salinity (LS)
water flooding with steam flooding. The results explain that the
combination of steam and LS water provides a more
hydrophilic environment for the reservoir. Problems owing
to density differences between steam and high viscosity oil
(such as steam gravity override, channeling, and early
breakthrough) are minimized with the addition of LS.
Supercritical water can not only reduce the viscosity of heavy
oil, but also dissolve the heavy fractions, so supercritical water
is regarded as a substitute for steam. Zhao et al.276,277 carried
out an experimental study on supercritical water replacing
steam. The results reveal that compared with conventional
steam flooding, the recovery rate of supercritical water flooding
(SCWF) is 17% higher and the heat consumption is 34%
lower. Ma et al.278 used CMG-stars to conduct a numerical
simulation of SCWF. The results present that SCWF has twice
as much recovery as conventional steam flooding. SCWF is
more suitable for thin, low porosity and high permeability
reservoirs. Unfortunately, while SCWF recovery is promising,
achieving such high temperatures and high pressures in most
heavy oil reservoirs is difficult.
The discovery of heavy oil reserves pushes heavy oil thermal
recovery technology to become more and more popular. As a
mature thermal recovery technology, steam flooding plays a
vital role in heavy oil development. The combination of steam
pubs.acs.org/EF Review
flooding and other displacement technologies is the current
trend of thermal recovery technology research and has
achieved good results in laboratory research. Due to the
difference between laboratory works and field tests, it is
necessary to conduct numerical simulations before field tests.
However, uncertainty in the area of steam cavity loss and the
accuracy of additive injection modeling are still the problems
to be solved in the steam flooding simulation so far.
4. CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES
Table 5 compares the problems, limitations, and recovery of
different oil displacement technologies. Water flooding, steam
flooding, and gas flooding technologies are relatively mature
and basically at the industrial-scale exploitation stage. Some of
the chemical flooding, such as nanosized oil displacement
agent flooding, surfactant flooding, microemulsions flooding,
and foam flooding, are still in the laboratory research or testing
stage. The remaining oil and unconventional reservoirs are
abundant, but the existing technologies and mechanisms
cannot fully solve the problems due to the complex geological
structure of the reservoir, uncontrollable temperature changes,
and the change of crude oil properties. Moreover, some
technologies have safety and environmental issues. Therefore,
the development of oil displacement technologies still faces
significant challenges. This review not only reviewed past
research of different oil displacement technologies, but also
summarized the challenges facing each technology. The
challenges of each technique are as follows:
(1) Low salinity water flooding: LSWF has become a
research hotspot because it can change the physicochemical
properties of reservoirs and promote the desorption of crude
oil from the rock surface. The mechanism of LSWF is complex,
and wettability change is the main reason for the extra oil
recovery, which has been mentioned by most studies on
LSWF. However, the influence mechanism of impurities on
wettability change has not been revealed, which is an
acceptable study.
(2) Surfactant flooding: Currently, surfactants are mainly
used in sandstone reservoirs, but they may also be used in
offshore fields where there are apparent differences from
underground reservoirs. Therefore, an experiment simulating
the operating environment of the offshore oil field can be
assembled to research and develop surfactants suitable for the
actual offshore reservoir and fluid properties.
For mechanism research, in the research and development
process of surfactants applied to offshore oil fields, it is
necessary to address the problem of surfactant loss based on
actual offshore reservoir physical and fluid properties, while
optimizing its performance in reducing IFT, emulsifying and
improving wettability.
Another challenge for surfactant flooding is the application
in high temperature and highly mineralized carbonate
reservoirs. Most surfactants show promising results for low-
temperature and low-mineralization reservoirs. However, the
economics of surfactants that can tolerate high temperatures
and mineralization in industrial applications is challenging.
(3) Nanosized oil displacement agent flooding: In the NP
flooding experiment, the establishment of a stable nanoparticle
dispersion system is an important prerequisite for obtaining
accurate experimental results. Modified porous ceramics not
only have high porosity but also maintain mechanical
integrity.279−281 Therefore, porous ceramics can be considered
as a dispersive framework for the NP flooding test.
2558 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.2c03625
Energy Fuels 2023, 37, 2539−2568
Energy & Fuels pubs.acs.org/EF Review

Nanotechnology for EOR is an interesting topic. Although a

steam chamber

steam flooding
steam flooding
the scope of the

the energy con-

technology is
variety of mechanisms have been proposed, including intersec-

sumption of
is limited
tional tension reduction, wettability changes, pore blockage,
stabilizing emulsions, viscosity adjustment, presence of

large
structural separation pressures, and asphaltene precipitation,

40
different mechanisms dominate EOR depending on environ-

sions are important challenges

flooding for high temperature

ability reservoirs and screen-

applications of microemulsion

mental parameters. As a consequence, the research of the

flow problems in low perme-
and high salt reservoirs are

ing criteria for microemul-

interrelationships between multiple mechanisms will facilitate
microemulsions

the development and production of cost-effective industrial-

scale NP displacement technologies.
Furthermore, oil displacement by NPs in oil reservoir is a
complex process which is the coupling among the processes of
20−30

thermal transmission (T), hydrodynamics (H), mass transfer

rare

(M), and chemical reaction (C). The temperature field,

seepage field, stress field and chemical field in the NP flooding
reducing production costs are
complicated; the output fluid
foam flooding technology is

have been studied in detail, but the mechanism of T-H-M-C

improving foam stability and
is prone to emulsification
the equipment required for

multifield coupling is rarely researched. Accordingly, it is

the major challenges

urgent to explore the mechanism of T-H-M-C coupling of NP-

foam

EOR in micro- and nanopores.

(4) Microemulsion flooding: The use of microemulsions for
chemical flooding

EOR in high-temperature and high-salt reservoirs has been less

20−30

studied, which requires research on the formulation of

microemulsions suitable for such reservoirs. More importantly,
the screening criteria for microemulsions is one of the
on EOR; the economics is a
many applications are not yet

nanoparticles have a impact

the size and concentration of

important roles in advancing microemulsion flooding technol-

ogy for widespread application in oil fields, which is a
challenging task.
nanofluid

major challenge

(5) Foam flooding: Foam generation speed is one of the key

fully mature

parameters for the success of foam flooding. The faster the

foam is produced, the sooner the dominant channel can be
0−35

blocked, and the faster its reach and recovery can be increased.
Nevertheless, there are few reports on the dynamics of foam
the economics of high tem-
most surfactants are mainly

flooding, so the relevant study of dynamics parameters is an

used in low-temperature

resistant surfactants for

and low-mineralization

perature and high salt

industrial applications

acceptable topic.
sandstone reservoirs

(6) Gas flooding: Due to the low porosity and permeability

surfactant

of tight oil reservoirs, the pore size and connectivity are less
than those of conventional reservoirs, and the crude oil is
adsorbed or trapped in fine pore throats. Gas flooding has the
12−30
Table 5. Comparison of Different Oil Displacement Technologies

strength of being able to touch nanopore crude oil, so it has

become a hot topic. However, the presence of nanodiameter
ular, CO2 and air may also corrode
flue gas

20−25

pore walls in tight reservoirs plays a vital role in the

asphaltene deposits and, in partic-
gases in the reservoir may lead to
finger prone in the displacement

arrangement of molecules in the pore, and this limiting effect

can significantly change the phase behavior in the reservoir.
7−35
gas flooding

Consequently, the effect of reducing pore restriction on gas

CO2

flooding to improve tight oil recovery is worthy of

comprehensive exploration.Moreover, the effects of different
the equipment
N2

40

gas injections on crude oil are very complicated. The functions

process

of different microscopic mechanisms vary with the composi-

20−30
air

tion of oil, and the mixing of impurity gas exacerbates the

knowledge gaps of microscopic displacement mechanisms.
Because the influence mechanism of impurity gas mixing on
reached by water injection

but also causes corrosion

impurities in the water not
only blocks the reservoir

microscopic gas displacement is not clear at present, the work

and scaling in the pipes
some areas could not be

needs to be carried out urgently.

water flooding

(7) CO2 flooding: In the process of CO2 flooding, the most

hidden trouble is possible leakage, such as wellbore fracture
and cement failure, which will lead to CO2 leakage. Therefore,
determining the reaction dynamics between CO2, wellbore,
30−35

cementing cement and formation minerals under related

conditions is a topic worthy of deep study. Furthermore, the
technology

EOR (%)
limitation

brittle fracture mechanism of tubing and casing caused by

problem

stress corrosion induced by H2S during CO2 flooding still

needs thorough research.
2559 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.2c03625
Energy Fuels 2023, 37, 2539−2568
Energy & Fuels
(8) Steam flooding: Steam flooding is a successful EOR
method in thermal recovery technology. Before simulating this
process, it is crucial to achieving a good match not only in the
production equipment, but also in the steam chamber
geometry and connections. Although this can be achieved by
4D seismic interpretation, the uncertainty of the dissipated
area of the steam chamber remains a great challenge. In
addition, accurate modeling of additive injection in steam
flooding is the bottleneck that needs to be solved.
For another technology-assisted steam flooding, it is
necessary to develop an accurate reservoir-wellbore coupling
software. In the existing software, there are some problems
leading to inaccurate predictions, such as ignoring reservoir
geological characteristics, unstable software operation, and
difficulty in iterative convergence. Therefore, a complete
reservoir-wellbore coupling software is needed to design the
oil displacement plan based on parameters such as local
reservoir permeability and temperature variation.
5. CONCLUSION
Oil displacement technology has evolved and updated over the
past 100 years. Researchers can use indoor physical model
experiments, numerical simulation, and other methods to carry
out theoretical works, and then field application. Water,
chemical, gas, and steam flooding are reviewed in this review.
We describe and discuss each of the oil displacement
mechanisms. The conclusions of our discussion are as follows:
(a) Some oil displacement technologies are environmentally
friendly. For example, CO2 flooding is effective for CO2
containment. However, some displacement agents have
shortcomings, i.e., corrosion of equipment and damage
to reservoir structure. It remains unclear of the cement
failure mechanism caused by CO2 and H2S and tube
brittle fracture mechanism caused by stress corrosion.
Solutions to these problems are crucial for the
sustainable development of oil displacement technolo-
gies.
(b) The establishment of an accurate experimental system is
a necessary condition for laboratory research. Although
there are various devices available, few experimental
systems have been reported for simulating oil displace-
ment in offshore reservoirs. Moreover, when studying
mass transfer during oil displacement, the appropriate
diffusion framework has not been constructed so far.
Therefore, it is necessary to improve the accuracy and
expand the application range of the experimental system.
(c) In the numerical simulation, the accurate modeling is the
first condition in numerical simulation, but the
uncertainty of the dissipated area hinders the improve-
ment of numerical simulation accuracy. The the
dynamics study of foam flooding and CO2 flooding
needs to be further studied, which is very important for
foam selection and CO2 leakage prevention. Further-
more, the mechanism of T-H-M-C multifield coupling at
micro/nanoscale pore structure is rarely reported, so it
can be regarded as a potential study in the future.
(d) With the development of emerging technologies and the
rising demand for oil resources, more influencing factors
and the combination of various oil displacement
technologies should be considered in the future research
of oil displacement technologies, so as to obtain more
pubs.acs.org/EF Review
accurate and reliable effects and shake up the
unsatisfactory status quo.
■ AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Authors
Riyi Lin − College of New Energy, Qingdao Engineering
Research Center of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Fossil
Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
Qingdao 266580, China; orcid.org/0000-0002-7086-
8919; Email: linry@upc.edu.cn
Liqiang Zhang − College of New Energy, Qingdao Engineering
Research Center of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Fossil
Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
Qingdao 266580, China; Email: zhangliqiang@upc.edu.cn
Authors
Yiya Wang − College of New Energy, Qingdao Engineering
Research Center of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Fossil
Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
Qingdao 266580, China
Xinlu Han − College of New Energy, Qingdao Engineering
Research Center of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Fossil
Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
Qingdao 266580, China; orcid.org/0000-0002-9914-
5634
Jinyu Li − College of New Energy, Qingdao Engineering
Research Center of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Fossil
Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
Qingdao 266580, China
Ruiqi Liu − College of New Energy, Qingdao Engineering
Research Center of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Fossil
Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
Qingdao 266580, China
Qi Wang − College of New Energy, Qingdao Engineering
Research Center of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Fossil
Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
Qingdao 266580, China
Chenxing Huang − College of New Energy, Qingdao
Engineering Research Center of Efficient and Clean
Utilization of Fossil Energy, China University of Petroleum
(East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Xinwei Wang − College of New Energy, Qingdao Engineering
Research Center of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Fossil
Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
Qingdao 266580, China
Complete contact information is available at:
https://pubs.acs.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.2c03625
Author Contributions
†
Y.W. and X.H. contributed equally to this study and shared
first authorship.
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
Biographies
Yiya Wang obtained her Master’s degree from Changzhou University
in 2021. Now, she is a Ph.D. candidate in the College of New Energy,
China University of Petroleum (East China), supervised by Prof. Riyi
Lin. Her research interests are heavy oil efficient development and
utilization.
Xinlu Han obtained her Ph.D. degree from Zhejiang University in
2021. She was sponsored by China Scholarship Council (CSC) for
joint training at Lund University from 2019 to 2020. Now, she is
2560 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.2c03625
Energy Fuels 2023, 37, 2539−2568
Energy & Fuels pubs.acs.org/EF
performing postdoctoral research at China University of Petroleum
(East China). Her research interests focus on development and
optimization of reaction kinetics and alternative fuels.
Jinyu Li received his Master’s degree from Shandong University of
Science and Technology. Now, he is a Ph.D. candidate in the College
of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
supervised by Prof. Riyi Lin. His research interests are energy
efficient development and utilization.
Ruiqi Liu received her B.Sc. from Shandong University of Science
and Technology. Now, she is a Master’s Degree Candidate in the
College of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
supervised by Prof. Riyi Lin. Her research interests are heavy oil
efficient development and utilization.
Qi Wang received her B.Sc. from Shandong University of Science and
Technology. Now, she is a Master’s Degree Candidate in the College
of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
supervised by Prof. Riyi Lin. Her research interests are heavy oil
efficient development and utilization.
Chenxing Huang received her Master’s degree from China University
of Petroleum (East China). Now, she is a Ph.D. candidate in the
College of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China),
supervised by Prof. Riyi Lin. Her research interests are energy efficient
development and utilization.
Xinwei Wang obtained his Ph.D. degree from Institute of Engineering
Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019. He has been a
Senior Laboratory Technician at College of New Energy, China
University of Petroleum (East China) since. His research interests are
oil field energy saving, thermal recovery and thermochemistry
direction.
Liqiang Zhang obtained his Ph.D. degree from University of Science
and Technology of China in 2019. After performing postdoctoral
research at China University of Petroleum (East China) from 2019 to
2021, he started a lecturer in Jan 2022 at University of Petroleum
(East China). His research interests are energy efficient development
and utilization.
Riyi Lin obtained his Ph.D. degree from China University of
Petroleum (East China) in 2007. He has been a Professor at China
University of Petroleum (East China) since 2017. Now, he is also the
head of Qingdao Engineering Research Center of Efficient and Clean
Utilization of Fossil Energy. His research interests are oil field energy
saving, thermal recovery and thermochemistry direction. He has
published more than 100 related papers and completed more than 80
projects.
■ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51874333).
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