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U. S. Behera and J. S. Sangwai
is expected that in near future nanotechnology may play vital role in oil and gas industries. This is because of expansion of nanotechnology in every field as a success tool
which enhances curiosity among the researchers of oil and gas industries. Bera and
Belhja (2016) state that an offshore well of china suffers from production loss due to
fine migration. Polymer cross-link nanoparticles whose surface treated with proppant
(solid material typically sand designed to induce hydraulic fracture open) were used
and oil production was recovered. The recovery was because of surface-modified
nanoparticles which carry fine migrant into the fracture during fluid flow.
Another field study which was carried out in Arab-D carbonated reservoir of giant
Ghawar of Saudi Arabia. The objective of the field study was to observe the recover
percentage of A-dot nanoparticles (special design hairy carbon-based fluorescent
nanoparticles for this field application) during the production which is most challenging one. During the production 5 kg of A-dot nanoparticles in 255bbl of injection
water was employed per batch. The bottom-hole temperature of 90 °C and pressure
less than 1500 psi signify the reservoir condition. When the production resumed, 84
samples were collected within a period of 2 days to investigate the concentration
of nanoparticles in each sample at different levels of production. The samples have
undergone several tests (SEM, TEM, and AFM) to find out the concentration of
A-dot nanoparticles. It was concluded that A-dot nanoparticles were stable even if
harsh condition of reservoir and 82–86% of used nanoparticles could be recovered.
This was one of the successful field trials in terms of recovery of nanoparticles ever
observed (Mazen et al. 2011).
The common reason for formation damage is due to fine migration that plugged
the pore near the wellbore which decelerate the production capacity of the well. A
wellbore located in Gulf of Mexico encountered with similar problem. The reservoir
temperature was about 160 °F and pay zone measured depth of 15,760–15,860 ft.
During about 14 month of production period, production declined from 7,500 to
2,200 barrel of oil per day and gas from 6000 MCF to 2000MCF (MCF sands for
thousand cubic feet). A frac-packing treatment was carried out to get rid of the
problem. Proppant surface coated with nanoparticles at loading of 1 lb per 1000 lb
of proppant were used. The flow of fine migrant was restricted due to adsorption on
surface-treated proppant particles and the production was brought back (Huang et al.
2010).
8 Limitation of Nanoparticles in EOR
Nanoparticles are prepared through various complex processes which have been discussed earlier. As the production cost of NPs is quite expensive, therefore application
of NPs in field scale is still questionable. Keeping in the view of cost as an important
factor most of the researchers have used SiO 2 nanoparticles during the investigation
(Kamal et al. 2017). In addition to the above-discussed factor stability of nanoparticles in dispersion is most challenging one which needs to be addressed. However,
oil–water–surfactant emulsion better stabilized in presence of silica nanoparticles
U. S. Behera and J. S. Sangwai
is expected that in near future nanotechnology may play vital role in oil and gas industries. This is because of expansion of nanotechnology in every field as a success tool
which enhances curiosity among the researchers of oil and gas industries. Bera and
Belhja (2016) state that an offshore well of china suffers from production loss due to
fine migration. Polymer cross-link nanoparticles whose surface treated with proppant
(solid material typically sand designed to induce hydraulic fracture open) were used
and oil production was recovered. The recovery was because of surface-modified
nanoparticles which carry fine migrant into the fracture during fluid flow.
Another field study which was carried out in Arab-D carbonated reservoir of giant
Ghawar of Saudi Arabia. The objective of the field study was to observe the recover
percentage of A-dot nanoparticles (special design hairy carbon-based fluorescent
nanoparticles for this field application) during the production which is most challenging one. During the production 5 kg of A-dot nanoparticles in 255bbl of injection
water was employed per batch. The bottom-hole temperature of 90 °C and pressure
less than 1500 psi signify the reservoir condition. When the production resumed, 84
samples were collected within a period of 2 days to investigate the concentration
of nanoparticles in each sample at different levels of production. The samples have
undergone several tests (SEM, TEM, and AFM) to find out the concentration of
A-dot nanoparticles. It was concluded that A-dot nanoparticles were stable even if
harsh condition of reservoir and 82–86% of used nanoparticles could be recovered.
This was one of the successful field trials in terms of recovery of nanoparticles ever
observed (Mazen et al. 2011).
The common reason for formation damage is due to fine migration that plugged
the pore near the wellbore which decelerate the production capacity of the well. A
wellbore located in Gulf of Mexico encountered with similar problem. The reservoir
temperature was about 160 °F and pay zone measured depth of 15,760–15,860 ft.
During about 14 month of production period, production declined from 7,500 to
2,200 barrel of oil per day and gas from 6000 MCF to 2000MCF (MCF sands for
thousand cubic feet). A frac-packing treatment was carried out to get rid of the
problem. Proppant surface coated with nanoparticles at loading of 1 lb per 1000 lb
of proppant were used. The flow of fine migrant was restricted due to adsorption on
surface-treated proppant particles and the production was brought back (Huang et al.
2010).
8 Limitation of Nanoparticles in EOR
Nanoparticles are prepared through various complex processes which have been discussed earlier. As the production cost of NPs is quite expensive, therefore application
of NPs in field scale is still questionable. Keeping in the view of cost as an important
factor most of the researchers have used SiO 2 nanoparticles during the investigation
(Kamal et al. 2017). In addition to the above-discussed factor stability of nanoparticles in dispersion is most challenging one which needs to be addressed. However,
oil–water–surfactant emulsion better stabilized in presence of silica nanoparticles