Experimental and Theoretical Study of Viscosity Reduction in Heavy Crude Oils by Addition of Nanoparticles

Heavy and extra-heavy oils generally exhibit high viscosity, which is detrimental to their production, transport, and refining. The oil and gas industry has thoroughly investigated the use of chemical agents to improve the mobility of this type of low-quality crude oil at the surface as well as reservoir conditions for many years. In this sense, the main objective of this paper is to provide unexpected experimental evidence of heavy oil and extra-heavy crude oils viscosity reduction resulting from the presence of nanoparticles (NPs) of different chemical natures (SiO 2, Fe 3 O 4, and Al 2 O 3 ), particle size, surface acidity, and concentration at low-volume fractions. The viscosity of the enhanced fluids was measured using a rotational rheometer at shear rates varying between 1 and 75 s –1 . Upon addition of nanoparticles, viscosity reduction was observed in all cases evaluated. However, the maximum viscosity reduction of roughly 52% was obtained at a concentration of 1000 mg/L with 7 nm SiO 2 nanoparticles at shear rates below 10 s –1, contrary to expectations from Einstein’s viscosity theory in particulate systems. A mathematical model based on a modification to Pal and Rhodes Model for the viscosity of suspensions is proposed in this work. The said model that relates the concentration of nanoparticles to the fluid mixture viscosity was validated successfully using experimental data, as evidenced by RSME% values lower than 10%. The importance of our findings lies in the lack of previous experimental and theoretical data in the open literature showing heavy crude oil viscosity reduction in the presence of nanoparticles.