Reservoir Potential Unlocked: Synergies Between Low-Salinity Water Flooding, Nanoparticles and Surfactants in Enhanced Oil Recovery─A Review

This review explores the synergistic application of low-salinity water flooding (LSWF), nanoparticles, and surfactants in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), emphasizing their combined potential to address modern oil production challenges. It highlights the ability of LSWF to alter reservoir wettability, improve sweep efficiency, nanoparticles to enhance fluid mobility, and reduce interfacial tension, and surfactants to lower the interfacial tension and promote emulsification. All of this aim to provide practical, easy-to-use, and sustainable solutions for oil recovery. The review discusses existing research gaps in the long-term stability of nanoparticle-surfactant complexes, site-specific differences in rock-fluid interactions, and economic viability across diverse reservoirs. The review summarizes experimental findings, demonstrating recovery rates of 45-55% for nanoparticles, 50-60% for surfactants, and 40-50% for LSWF with improvements of 75-82% through this integrated approach. Additionally, the review addresses technological advancements, environmental considerations, and economic feasibility, highlighting challenges such as nanoparticle agglomeration and surfactant adsorption. A bibliographic analysis of global research trends, mechanisms, and field applications underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in optimizing this strategy for sustainable and efficient EOR processes. The findings aim to guide researchers and industry professionals in leveraging the synergistic effects of these methods to maximize oil recovery and reduce environmental footprints with a proposition to develop advanced characterization techniques, and verifying practicality through field implementation studies.