Citation: Giraldo, M.A.; Zabala, R.D.; Bahamón, J.I.; Ulloa, J.M.; Usurriaga, J.M.; Cárdenas, J.C.; Mazo, C.; Guzmán, J.D.; Lopera, S.H.; Franco, C.A.; et al. Development and Evaluation from Laboratory to Field Trial of a Dual-Purpose Fracturing Nanofluid: Inhibition of Associated Formation Damage and Increasing Heavy Crude Oil Mobility. Nanomaterials 2022, 12, 2195. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12132195 Academic Editor: Mikhail Sheremet Received: 25 May 2022 Accepted: 17 June 2022 Published: 26 June 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). nanomaterials Article Development and Evaluation from Laboratory to Field Trial of a Dual-Purpose Fracturing Nanofluid: Inhibition of Associated Formation Damage and Increasing Heavy Crude Oil Mobility María A. Giraldo 1 , Richard D. Zabala 2 , Jorge I. Bahamón 2 , Juan M. Ulloa 3 , José M. Usurriaga 4 , José C. Cárdenas 4 , Camilo Mazo 1 , Juan D. Guzmán 1 , Sergio H. Lopera 5 , Camilo A. Franco 1, * and Farid B. Cortés 1, * 1 Grupo de Investigación Fenómenos de Superficie—Michael Polanyi, Departamento de Procesos y Energía, Facultad de Minas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia—Sede Medellín, Medellín 050034, Colombia; maragiraldomun@unal.edu.co (M.A.G.); cmazos@unal.edu.co (C.M.); jdguzmanc@unal.edu.co (J.D.G.) 2 Departamento de Tecnologías de Producción, Ecopetrol S.A., Bogotá D.C. 111311, Colombia; richard.zabala@ecopetrol.com.co (R.D.Z.); jorge.bahamon@ecopetrol.com.co (J.I.B.) 3 Coordinación de Ingeniería, Gerencia Castilla, Ecopetrol S.A., Castilla La Nueva 507041, Colombia; juan.ulloa@ecopetrol.com.co 4 Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo-ICP, Ecopetrol S.A., Piedecuesta 681011, Colombia; jose.usuriaga@ecopetrol.com.co (J.M.U.); jose.cardenasmo@ecopetrol.com.co (J.C.C.) 5 Grupo de Investigación Yacimientos de Hidrocarburos, Departamento de Procesos y Energía, Facultad de Minas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia—Sede Medellín, Medellín 050034, Colombia; shlopera@unal.edu.co * Correspondence: caafrancoar@unal.edu.co (C.A.F.); fbcortes@unal.edu.co (F.B.C.); Tel.: +574-425-5137 (F.B.C.) Abstract: This study aims to develop and evaluate fracturing nanofluids from the laboratory to the field trial with the dual purpose of increasing heavy crude oil mobility and reducing formation damage caused by the remaining fracturing fluid (FF). Two fumed silica nanoparticles of different sizes, and alumina nanoparticles were modified on the surface through basic and acidic treatments. The nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential and total acidity. The rheological behavior of the linear gel and the heavy crude oil after adding different chemical nature nanoparticles were measured at two concentrations of 100 and 1000 mg/L. Also, the contact angle assessed the alteration of the rock wettability. The nanoparticle with better performance was the raw fumed silica of 7 nm at 1000 mg/L. These were employed to prepare a fracturing nanofluid from a commercial FF. Both fluids were evaluated through their rheological behavior as a function of time at high pressure following the API RP39 test, and spontaneous imbibition tests were carried out to assess the FF’s capacity to modify the wettability of the porous media. It was possible to conclude that the inclusion of 7 nm commercial silica nanoparticles allowed obtaining a reduction of 10 and 20% in the two breakers used in the commercial fracture fluid formulation without altering the rheological properties of the system. Displacement tests were also performed on proppant and rock samples at reservoir conditions of overburden and pore pressures of 3200 and 1200 psi, respectively, while the temperature was set at 77 ◦ C and the flow rate at 0.3 cm 3 /min. According to the effective oil permeability, a decrease of 31% in the damage was obtained. Based on these results, the fracturing nanofluid was selected and used in the first worldwide field application in a Colombian oil field with a basic sediment and water (BSW%) of 100 and without oil production. After two weeks of the hydraulic fracture operation, crude oil was produced. Finally, one year after this work, crude oil viscosity and BSW% kept showing reductions near 75% and 33%, respectively; and having passed two years, the cumulative incremental oil production is around 120,000 barrels. Keywords: field test; nanofluid; fracturing fluid; heavy crude oil; mobility; formation damage; rheological behavior Nanomaterials 2022, 12, 2195. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12132195 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nanomaterials