Transport Phenomena of Nanoparticles and Their Applications in Enhancing Oil Recovery

轻、中、稠油油藏一次采油和二次采油后的剩余油饱和度一般在原始原地油的50%~60%，稠油油藏的剩余油饱和度一般在90%以上，为了维持油气生产，提高采收率技术在石油工业中得到了广泛的应用。由于纳米粒子独特的物理和化学性质，室内实验和现场应用表明，纳米粒子可以通过改变润湿性、降低界面张力、控制流度、减少沥青质沉淀和精细运移来提高原油采收率，但很少有人尝试从理论上量化纳米粒子在油藏条件下在地层岩石中的去向和运移行为。纳米颗粒采用不同的提高采收率技术(如低盐度注水、蒸汽/热水注入和烷烃溶剂强化二氧化碳注入)的性能尚未得到理论和数值评估，这主要是因为潜在的提高采油机理仍然存在争议。这项拟议研究的总体目标不仅是量化纳米颗粒的输送现象，而且还研究和开发适当的纳米技术，以提高从常规和非常规油气藏中的石油采收率。在这项拟议的研究中，将提出一种全面和系统的方法来量化油藏流体、外部注入剂和智能纳米颗粒之间的相行为以及质量和热传递，描述纳米颗粒在多相流系统中的传输，识别潜在的机理和协同效应，并优化纳米颗粒辅助提高采收率技术的油藏性能。最后，新开发的技术将与现有的油藏模拟器(如CMG)集成，以设计和优化不确定条件下的纳米颗粒辅助提高采收率过程。这项拟议研究的科学发现不仅将用于准确量化纳米颗粒传输现象，还将用于设计和优化纳米颗粒辅助提高采收率技术。此外，拟议的研究将使石油行业能够以具有成本效益和可持续的方式释放巨大的石油和天然气储量，同时将对环境的影响降至最低。拟议的研究将为在石油工程和纳米技术开发领域培养高素质人才提供重要机会。这些HQP将是加拿大在这些重要技术领域的宝贵资产。

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques have been widely implemented in the petroleum industry in order to sustain oil and gas production since residual oil saturation after primary recovery and secondary recovery is generally in the range of 50-60% and up to 90% of the original oil in place (OOIP) for light- and medium-oil reservoirs and heavy oil reservoirs, respectively. Due to the unique physical and chemical properties, laboratory experiments and field applications have shown that nanoparticles can enhance oil recovery through wettability alteration, interfacial tension reduction, mobility control, asphaltene precipitation reduction, and fine migration mitigation, though few attempts have been made to theoretically quantify the fate and transport behaviour of nanoparticles in formation rocks under reservoir conditions. The performance of nanoparticles with various EOR techniques (e.g., low salinity water injection, steam/hot water injection, and alkane solvents-enhanced CO2 injection) has not been theoretically and numerically evaluated due mainly to the fact that the underlying EOR mechanisms remain controversial. The overall objective of this proposed research is to not only quantify the transport phenomena of nanoparticles, but also to investigate and develop suitable nanotechnologies for enhancing oil recovery from both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. In this proposed research, a comprehensive and systematic approach will be proposed to quantify phase behaviour together with mass and heat transfer among reservoir fluids, external injectants, and intelligent nanoparticles, describe nanoparticle transport for multiphase flow systems, identify the underlying mechanisms together with synergistic effects, and optimize reservoir performance of the nanoparticle-assisted EOR techniques. Finally, the newly developed techniques will be integrated with the existing reservoir simulators (e.g., CMG) to design and optimize nanoparticle-assisted EOR processes under uncertainty. The scientific findings from this proposed research will be used to not only accurately quantify nanoparticle transport phenomena, but also design and optimize nanoparticle-assisted EOR techniques. In addition, the proposed research would enable the petroleum industry to unlock the vast oil and gas reserves in a cost-effective and sustainable manner while minimizing environmental impacts. The proposed research will provide important opportunities for training highly qualified personnel (HQP) in the areas of both petroleum engineering and nano-technological development. These HQP will be valuable assets for Canada in these important technical fields.