As a non-ionic surfactant, hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) is widely utilized in the oil and gas industry owing to its numerous advantages, which include excellent suspensibility, robust viscosifying properties, and distinguished plugging effect. However, the direct application of HEC faces certain challenges such as high dosage, suboptimal temperature resistance, and slow degradation. Various solutions have been proposed to tackle these issues, including the blending of HEC with other materials to enhance its performance. The viscosifying ability of the material is significantly improved, and the oil displacement effect is remarkable after the modification of hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC).Thus, materials based on HEC, such as the HEC compounding system and HEC-modified materials, have considerable research value. This review aims to discuss the current research status of HEC-based materials, focusing on viscosity stabilization, anti-tampering and plugging, oil drive, and production increase. The synthesis method and properties of the material are analyzed, highlighting the weak temperature resistance, insufficient salt resistance, and limited self-adaptability of HEC. Hence, it is suggested that future development should concentrate on hydrophobic modification of HEC long carbon chains and compounding with polymers to produce HEC-based composites that are suitable for wider application.

羟乙基纤维素(HEC)作为一种非离子表面活性剂，以其优异的悬浮性、强的增粘性能和卓越的堵漏效果等优点，在石油天然气工业中得到广泛应用。然而，HEC的直接应用面临着剂量高、耐温性欠佳、降解慢等挑战。人们提出了各种解决方案来解决这些问题，包括将 HEC 与其他材料混合以提高其性能。羟乙基纤维素(HEC)改性后，材料的增粘能力显着提高，驱油效果显着。因此，基于HEC的材料，如HEC复配体系和HEC改性材料，具有相当大的研究价值。本文旨在探讨HEC基材料的研究现状，重点关注稳定粘度、防篡改堵漏、驱油增产等方面的研究进展。分析了该材料的合成方法和性能，突出了HEC的耐温性差、耐盐性不足、自适应能力有限等问题。因此，建议未来的发展应集中于HEC长碳链的疏水改性以及与聚合物复合以生产适合更广泛应用的HEC基复合材料。