Experimental and Theoretical Investigation for Synthetic Polymers, Biopolymers and Polymeric Nanocomposites Application in Enhanced Oil Recovery Operations

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) acquires global interest in the petroleum industry. Several technologies are implemented to retrieve the residual oil after conventional flooding treatment. One of these prospering technologies is the chemical EOR through polymeric nanocomposites flooding, where nanotechnology acquires incremental attention in the field of petroleum industry. Current efforts are directed toward the use of nanofluids, polymeric nanofluids, polymer nanocomposites, and polymer-g-nanoparticles to produce through chemical flooding. This review provides comprehensive highlights on the following aspects, (1) preparation and characterization of polymeric nanocomposites with their organic polymers and inorganic fillers. In addition, the mechanism of flooding and wettability alteration through nanocomposites were issued. (2) Implementation of nanofluids metal, and graphene oxide through flooding process gives promising results as it lowers the chemical adsorption onto the rock surface and enhances the rheological properties, flow diversion, specific heat improvement, emulsification improvement, and multiphase flow properties. (3) Application and advantage of biopolymers as water thickening agent and flow diversion through chemical EOR. Furthermore, the effect of zeta potential, chain length, molecular weight, and functional groups on nanocomposite stability, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of nanoparticles, and pressure drop and permeability limitations were reported. The application on the lab and field scale as well as the molecular dynamic (MD) simulation and theoretical modeling related to this upgrowing technology are discussed. The study outcomes encompass the optimization and utilization of synthetic polymers, biopolymers, and polymeric nanocomposites with their optimized injection and assessment conditions, in addition to, the future aspects and challenges of applications issues in enhanced oil recovery.