Chemical sand control in hydrocarbon reservoirs: a comprehensive review of techniques, mechanisms, and field applications

Sand production is one of the most important problems in the unconsolidated or weakly consolidated sandstone formations that causes about 70% of hydrocarbon reservoirs in the world. Sand production results in some related problems, such as permeability impairment, wellbore instability, severe equipment erosion, and significant economic losses. Although mechanical sand control methods, such as gravel packing and sand screens, remain widely extemded, however, these mechaminal methods have some disadvantages including high installation cost, operational complexity, and inefficiency in low-diameter or multi-zone completions; thus, research interest in chemical sand control methods have considered competitive alternative. This review utilizes a PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)-informed systematic search of Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar (from 1950 to 2026) to screen 1,842 initial researches and reduce them to 242 studies meeting defined criteria. This paper critically reviews the published literature on chemical sand control techniques including resin-based consolidation, polymer and hydrogel stabilization, nanoparticle-based treatments, and bio-inspired methods such as enzyme- and microbial induced carbonate precipitation. In comparison with previous reviews, this study integrates these four methods under a unified strength-permeability-environment framework in litrature. It also incorporates recent studies from 2024 to 2026 on nano-polymer composites and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted sand prediction. Moreover, this review provides a selection matrix based on reservoir conditions and a fist-order economic feasibility comparison. The results indicate that chemical sand consolidation using epoxy and furan resin provide the highest compressive strength up to 7000 psi, however, can impose permeability reduction of 10 to 52%; these results is due to pore-filling mechanism of resin consolidation rather than simply with material selection. Nanoparticle treatments, particularly SiO₂-based systems, achieve superior permeability retention of up to 88% with moderate strength gain and offer the best cost-performance ratio in fines-migration-dominated wells, while furan resin offers the best cost-performance ratio where high strength and thermal stability are required. Bio-based methods offer the most favorable environmental and life-cycle profiles but remain constrained to approximately 120 °C and by non-uniform treatment coverage with depth. Nano-polymer composites emerge as the most promising next-generation approach, approaching the ideal combination of high strength and minimal permeability impairment. Critical, unresolved research gaps include the absence of a standardized American Petroleum Institute (API)/International Organization for Standardization (ISO) testing protocol for chemical consolidation (as distinct from the mature proppant/gravel standards), the lack of published performance data under cyclic thermal loading (e.g., cyclic steam stimulation), the absence of any demonstrated method for reversing or removing a cured consolidant, and the lack of standardized, publicly comparable well economic data across operators. For field practitioners, this review provides a decision matrix for narrowing candidate chemical methods by formation temperature, salinity, clay content, and dominant failure mechanism, intended to guide method pre-screening ahead of laboratory core-flood validation. Future research priorities encompass artificial intelligence-assisted sanding prediction and chemical design optimization, stimuli-responsive consolidant systems, resin-nanoparticle hybrid formulations, and environmentally sustainable bio-renewable consolidant chemistries.