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Advances in Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes
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Advances in Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 1000

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Adolfo P. Pires

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Petroleum Engineering and Exploration Laboratory, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Macaé, Brazil
Interests: flow in porous media; thermodynamics of phase equilibria; enhanced oil recovery
Dr. Dongmei Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Harold Hamm School of Geology & Geological Engineering, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58201-8358, USA
Interests: EOR; EGS; petrophysics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) includes advanced techniques aimed at maximizing the recovery of oil from reservoirs that are no longer economically viable using conventional methods. Common EOR approaches include chemical methods, such as injecting polymers and surfactants to improve the flow of oil; thermal methods, which utilize heat, such as steam injection, to reduce oil viscosity; and miscible methods, where gases like CO2 are injected to mix with and mobilize trapped oil. Additionally, hybrid methods and the integration of nanotechnology are being explored to further optimize recovery efficiency. These innovative techniques extend the productive life of oil fields, ensuring more sustainable and efficient resource utilization.

EOR plays a crucial role in global energy production by bridging the gap between depleting reserves and growing energy demands. Furthermore, EOR aligns with environmental goals when integrated with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). For example, the use of CO2 injection in miscible EOR simultaneously enhances oil recovery and sequesters CO2 underground, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This dual-purpose approach not only boosts energy security but also contributes to the broader effort to mitigate climate change, making EOR a vital component of sustainable oil production in the transition to a low-carbon future.

The Special Issue on Advances in Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes seeks high-quality papers focusing on the latest developments in the modelling and application of Enhanced Oil Recovery and Carbon Capture and Storage processes, both theoretical and experimental. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery;
  • Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery;
  • Miscible Enhanced Oil Recovery;
  • CO2 sequestration;
  • Hybrid methods of Enhanced Oil Recovery;
  • Nanotechnology applied to oil and gas recovery;
  • Development of new products;
  • Mathematical and numerical modelling;
  • Laboratory experiments to characterize rock and fluid systems.

Prof. Dr. Adolfo P. Pires
Dr. Dongmei Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • enhanced oil recovery
  • flow in porous media
  • reservoir simulation
  • carbon capture
  • chemical flooding
  • miscible flooding
  • thermal flooding

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

34 pages, 2331 KB  
Article
Picard-Newton Method for Water-Alternating-Gas Injection Simulation in Heterogeneous Reservoirs
by João Gabriel Souza Debossam, Mayksoel Medeiros de Freitas, Grazione de Souza and Helio Pedro Amaral Souto
Processes 2026, 14(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14010020 - 20 Dec 2025
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Abstract
Water Alternating Gas (WAG) injection is a well-established enhanced oil recovery technique that improves sweep efficiency by combining the favorable displacement characteristics of waterflooding and gas injection. This work presents a sequential Picard–Newton formulation for simulating three-phase flow under WAG conditions in heterogeneous [...] Read more.
Water Alternating Gas (WAG) injection is a well-established enhanced oil recovery technique that improves sweep efficiency by combining the favorable displacement characteristics of waterflooding and gas injection. This work presents a sequential Picard–Newton formulation for simulating three-phase flow under WAG conditions in heterogeneous petroleum reservoirs. The mathematical model addresses slightly compressible, immiscible oil, water, and gas phases under constant-temperature conditions, with the governing equations discretized in space and time using the finite volume method. Reservoir heterogeneity is represented through geostatistical permeability fields generated by Sequential Gaussian Simulation, capturing the spatial correlations and anisotropy characteristic of subsurface formations. The methodology is applied to investigate WAG performance in heterogeneous reservoir models with mean permeabilities of 100, 200, and 400 × 10−15 m2 under identical 1:1 injection ratios. The numerical results successfully reproduce the cyclic saturation and production behavior characteristic of WAG processes. Comparative analysis reveals that higher permeability enhances injectivity and cumulative recovery but accelerates gas breakthrough and, in the highest-permeability case, water breakthrough, as well as production decline, illustrating the trade-off between displacement efficiency and sweep control. These findings demonstrate that the proposed framework provides an efficient and physically consistent tool for evaluating WAG strategies in heterogeneous reservoirs, with potential application to field-scale optimization of advanced recovery operations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes)
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16 pages, 2670 KB  
Article
Green and Controllable Crosslinked Gel Plugging Technology Based on Modified Natural Biofibers
by Zhe Ma and Junyi Liu
Processes 2025, 13(11), 3743; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13113743 - 20 Nov 2025
Viewed by 392
Abstract
To overcome the limited mechanical strength and poor stability of conventional gels in high-temperature, high-salinity oilfield environments, a novel nanocellulose-reinforced hydrogel (AM/AA/PCNF) was developed through a multistep chemical modification strategy. Nanocellulose served as a rigid backbone and was successively modified via epoxide ring-opening, [...] Read more.
To overcome the limited mechanical strength and poor stability of conventional gels in high-temperature, high-salinity oilfield environments, a novel nanocellulose-reinforced hydrogel (AM/AA/PCNF) was developed through a multistep chemical modification strategy. Nanocellulose served as a rigid backbone and was successively modified via epoxide ring-opening, methacryloyl esterification, and polydopamine functionalization, forming a three-dimensional network with multiple dynamic crosslinking interactions. The resulting composite hydrogel exhibited outstanding comprehensive properties when the PCNF content was 3 wt%: a tensile strength of 2.6 MPa, fracture energy of 8.95 MJ/m3, and compressive strength of 360 kPa—all markedly superior to those of conventional hydrogel systems. Under simulated downhole conditions (120 °C, 6 MPa, and 5 wt% salinity), the hydrogel demonstrated excellent plugging performance across sand beds of varying particle sizes (60–80 mesh to 20–40 mesh), maintaining cumulative fluid loss within 28.4–42.5 mL. Mechanistic investigations indicate that the enhanced performance stems from the synergistic combination of a rigid nanocellulose scaffold and multiple dynamic interactions, which facilitate a self-adaptive plugging mechanism. The study delivers both theoretical and practical foundations for designing advanced plugging systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes)
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