Application of Polymer Based Nanocomposites for Water Shutoff—A Review

One highly undesirable characteristic of mature assets that inhibits oil recovery is high water production. Polymer gel treatment is a popular conformance improvement technique applied in this regard due to its cost effectiveness and proved efficiency. Despite this popularity, optimum performance of polymer hydrogels in water shut off is inhibited by excessive aggregation, difficulty in controlling gelation, and their instability at high temperature and high salinity reservoir conditions. To address these shortcomings, research on the application of nanoparticles (NPs) in polymer hydrogels to manage thermal stability and salinity sensitivity has significantly increased in the recent past. By incorporating metal-based NPs, silica or graphene at nanoscale; the gel strength, storage modulus, salinity tolerance and thermal stability of commonly used polymers have been greatly enhanced. In this paper, the advances in experimental studies on polymer-based nanocomposites are discussed and field experiences from adoption of polymer composites reviewed.