an experimental investigation of the catalytic effect of fe2o3 nanoparticle on steam injection process of an iranian reservoir

nanotechnology has the potential to introduce revolutionary changes to several areas of oil and gasindustry such as exploration, production, enhanced oil recovery, and refining. in this paper, the effectof different concentrations of fe2o3 nanoparticles as a catalyst on the heavy oil viscosity at varioustemperatures is studied. furthermore, the effect of a mixture of fe2o3 nanoparticles and steaminjection on heavy oil recovery is studied in laboratory. the experimental tests show that some ofthese nanoparticles decrease the heavy oil viscosity less than 50% at certain concentrations atdifferent temperatures. the reason for this viscosity reduction is that, similar to a catalyst, thesenanoparticles activate some reactions. our results of steam injection tests show that the injection of afe2o3 nanoparticle mixture increases heavy oil recovery because of cracking reactions which crackthe c-s, c=c, and c≡c bonds of the heavy components of heavy oil and change them to lightcomponents.