1887

Abstract

Summary

There exist several mentions of HPAM polymers leading to reduced end point saturation; commonly referred to as “viscoelastic effect”. Huh and Pope(2008) proposed that polymers act as to maintain oil phase continuity, meaning that an impact can only be induced before oil breaks up into discontinuous ganglia. Hence, if their proposed mechanism is correct, common tertiary mode investigations would be misleading and cannot capture the full potential effect.

The present work was therefore initiated with the aim of testing the hypothesis of Huh and Pope. A reservoir rate core flood study was performed in a “micro-CT” imaging system enabling pore scale (≈ 7 μ m) resolution of fluids. Tertiary polymer injection, did not change oil saturation, which was in agreement with the hypothesis. Thereafter oil was injected into the porous medium, which already contained polymer, to increase oil saturation. Subsequent polymer injection led to higher SOR, which was in complete contradiction to the hypothesized lowering of SOR.

The results reported herein, did consequently not fit with the expectations from the hypothesis at question. On a general basis the results do therefore not support claims that polymer flooding, due to the viscoelastic nature of the fluid, should lead to a lower SOR.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201700328
2017-04-24
2024-04-25
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Abdulagatov, I. M., Zeinalova, A. B. and Azizov, N. D.
    [2006] Viscosity of aqueous electrolyte solutions at high temperatures and high pressures. Viscosity B-coefficient. Sodium iodide. Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data51(5), 1645–1659.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Alexander, P. and Charlesby, A.
    [1957] Effect of x-rays and γ-rays on synthetic polymers in aqueous solution. Journal of Polymer Science23(103), 355–375.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Baker, M. P., King, J. C., Gorman, B. P. and Marshall, D. W.
    [2013] Selection and properties of alternative forming fluids for TRISO fuel kernel production. Journal of Nuclear Materials432(1–3), 395–406.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Chatzis, I., Morrow, N. R. and Lim, H. T.
    [1983] Magnitude and Detailed Structure of Residual Oil Saturation.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Chauveteau, G., Denys, K. and Zaitoun, A.
    [2002] New Insight on Polymer Adsorption Under High Flow Rates. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Clarke, A., Howe, A. M., Mitchell, J., Staniland, J. and Hawkes, L. A.
    [Year] How viscoelastic polymer flooding enhances displacement efficiency. Society of Petroleum Engineers - SPE Asia Pacific Enhanced Oil Recovery Conference, EORC 2015, 926–946.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Holm, L. W.
    [1986] MOBILIZATION OF WATERFLOOD RESIDUAL OIL BY MISCIBLE FLUIDS. SPE Reservoir Engineering (Society of Petroleum Engineers)1(4), 354–362.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Huh, C. and Pope, G. A.
    [Year] Residual oil saturation from polymer floods: Laboratory measurements and theoretical interpretation. Proceedings - SPE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, 744–764.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Lake, L., Johns, R. T., Rossen, W. R. and Pope, G. A.
    [2014] Fundamentals of Enhanced Oil Recovery. Society of Petroleum Engineers, Richardson, TX.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Liu, Y., Zhong, H., Peng, X. and Zhao, C.
    [2015] Factors influencing micro sweep efficiency when flooding a formation with viscoelastic polymer solutions. Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils51(2), 160–167.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. NIST
    . Thermophysical Properties of fluid systems.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Oughanem, R., Youssef, S., Bauer, D., Peysson, Y., Maire, E. and Vizika, O.
    [2015] A Multi-Scale Investigation of Pore Structure Impact on the Mobilization of Trapped Oil by Surfactant Injection. Transport in Porous Media109(3), 673–692.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Qi, P., Ehrenfried, D. H., Koh, H. and Balhoff, M. T.
    Reduction of Residual Oil Saturation in Sandstone Cores Using Viscoelastic Polymers. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Ramstad, T., Idowu, N., Nardi, C. and Øren, P. E.
    [2012] Relative Permeability Calculations from Two-Phase Flow Simulations Directly on Digital Images of Porous Rocks. Transport in Porous Media94(2), 487–504.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Schneider, F. N. and Owens, W. W.
    [1982] STEADY-STATE MEASUREMENTS OF RELATIVE PERMEABILITY FOR POLYMER/OIL SYSTEMS. Society of Petroleum Engineers journal22(1), 79–86.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Spildo, K. and Sæ, E. I. Ø.
    [2015] Effect of Charge Distribution on the Viscosity and Viscoelastic Properties of Partially Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide. Energy and Fuels29(9), 5609–5617.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Tallakstad, K. T., Løvoll, G., Knudsen, H. A., Ramstad, T., Flekkøy, E. G. and Måløy, K. J.
    [2009] Steady-state, simultaneous two-phase flow in porous media: An experimental study. Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics80(3).
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Vermolen, E. C. M., Van Haasterecht, M. J. T. and Masalmeh, S. K.
    [Year] A systematic study of the polymer visco-elastic effect on residual oil saturation by core flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers - SPE EOR Conference at Oil and Gas West Asia 2014: Driving Integrated and Innovative EOR, 243–256.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Wang, D., Xia, H., Liu, Z. and Yang, Q.
    [2001] Study of the Mechanism of Polymer Solution With Visco-Elastic Behavior Increasing Microscopic Oil Displacement Efficiency and the Forming of Steady "Oil Thread" Flow Channels. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Wang, J., Liu, H. Q. and Xu, J.
    [2013] Mechanistic Simulation Studies on Viscous-Elastic Polymer Flooding in Petroleum Reservoirs. Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology34(3), 417–426.
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201700328
Loading
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201700328
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error