Effects of pore structure on surfactant/polymer floodingbased enhanced oil recovery in conglomerate reservoirs

To understand the displacement characteristics and remaining oil displacement process by the surfactant/polymer(SP) flooding in cores with different pore structures, the effects of pore structure on the enhanced oil recovery of SP flooding was investigated at the pore, core and field scales through conducting experiments on natural core samples with three typical types of pore structures. First, the in-situ nuclear magnetic resonance core flooding test was carried out to capture the remaining oil variation features in the water flooding and SP flooding through these three types of cores. Subsequently, at the core scale, displacement characteristics and performances of water flooding and SP flooding in these three types of cores were evaluated based on the full-size core flooding tests. Finally, at the field scale, production characteristics of SP flooding in the bimodal sandstone reservoir and multimodal conglomerate reservoir were compared using the actual field production data. The results show: as the pore structure gets more and more complex, the water flooding performance gets poorer, but the incremental recovery factor by SP flooding gets higher;the SP flooding can enhance the producing degree of oil in 1-3 μm pores in the unimodal and bimodal core samples, while it produces largely oil in medium and large pores more than 3 μm in pore radius in the multimodal core sample. The core flooding test using full-size core sample demonstrates that the injection of SP solution can significantly raise up the displacement pressure of the multimodal core sample, and greatly enhance recovery factor by emulsifying the remaining oil and enlarging swept volume. Compared with the sandstone reservoir, the multimodal conglomerate reservoir is more prone to channeling. With proper profile control treatments to efficiently enlarge the microscopic and macroscopic swept volumes, SP flooding in the conglomerate reservoir can contribute to lower water cuts and longer effective durations.

An Experimental Study on Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Flooding Systems Using Natural Mixed Carboxylate

Orthogonal-test-design method has been used to determine the optimal formula by phase behavior and interfacial tension studies, respectively. The effect of each component of two alkaline/surfactant/polymer flooding systems on interfacial tension is discussed, in which a low-price natural mixed carboxylate (SDC) is used as the major surfactant. The results indicate that the optimal composition is SDC (0.5%), alkaline NaHCO3/Na2CO3 with mass ratio of 1 (1.0%), and hydrolyzed polyacrylamide(0.1%). In the coreflood experiment, their oil recovery is increased by about 25.2% and 26.8% original oil in place, respectively.

Pressure transient characteristics of non-uniform conductivity fractured wells in viscoelasticity polymer flooding based on oil-water two-phase flow

Polymer flooding in fractured wells has been extensively applied in oilfields to enhance oil recovery.In contrast to water,polymer solution exhibits non-Newtonian and nonlinear behavior such as effects of shear thinning and shear thickening,polymer convection,diffusion,adsorption retention,inaccessible pore volume and reduced effective permeability.Meanwhile,the flux density and fracture conductivity along the hydraulic fracture are generally non-uniform due to the effects of pressure distribution,formation damage,and proppant breakage.In this paper,we present an oil-water two-phase flow model that captures these complex non-Newtonian and nonlinear behavior,and non-uniform fracture characteristics in fractured polymer flooding.The hydraulic fracture is firstly divided into two parts:high-conductivity fracture near the wellbore and low-conductivity fracture in the far-wellbore section.A hybrid grid system,including perpendicular bisection(PEBI)and Cartesian grid,is applied to discrete the partial differential flow equations,and the local grid refinement method is applied in the near-wellbore region to accurately calculate the pressure distribution and shear rate of polymer solution.The combination of polymer behavior characterizations and numerical flow simulations are applied,resulting in the calculation for the distribution of water saturation,polymer concentration and reservoir pressure.Compared with the polymer flooding well with uniform fracture conductivity,this non-uniform fracture conductivity model exhibits the larger pressure difference,and the shorter bilinear flow period due to the decrease of fracture flow ability in the far-wellbore section.The field case of the fall-off test demonstrates that the proposed method characterizes fracture characteristics more accurately,and yields fracture half-lengths that better match engineering reality,enabling a quantitative segmented characterization of the near-wellbore section with high fracture conductivity and the far-wellbore section with low fracture conductivity.The novelty of this paper is the analysis of pressure performances caused by the fracture dynamics and polymer rheology,as well as an analysis method that derives formation and fracture parameters based on the pressure and its derivative curves.

Pore-scale investigation of residual oil displacement in surfactant–polymer flooding using nuclear magnetic resonance experiments

Research on the Gangxi III area in the Dagang Oilfield shows that there was still a significant amount of oil remaining in oil reservoirs after many years of polymer flooding.This is a potential target for enhanced oil recovery（EOR）.Surfactant–polymer（SP） flooding is an effective chemical EOR method for mobilizing residual oil and improving displacement efficiency macroscopically,but the microscopic oil displacement efficiency in pores of different sizes is unclear.Nuclear magnetic resonance（NMR） is an efficient method for quantifying oil saturation in the rock matrix and analyzing pore structures.In this paper,the threshold values of different pore sizes were established from the relationship between mercury injection curves and NMR T2 spectrums.The distribution and migration of residual oil in different flooding processes was evaluated by quantitatively analyzing the change of the relaxation time.The oil displaced from pores of different sizes after the water flood,polymer flood,and the SP flood was calculated,respectively.Experimental results indicate that（1） the residual oil in medium pores contributed the most to the incremental oil recovery for the SP flood,ranging from 40 % to 49 %,and small pores usually contributed ／30 %;（2） the residual oil after the SP flood was mainly distributed in small and medium pores;the residual oil in medium pores accounted for 47.3 %–54.7 %,while that trapped in small pores was 25.7 %–42.5 %.The residual oil in small and medium pores was the main target for EOR after the SP flood in oilfields.

Polymer flooding: Current status and future directions

This review presents our perspective on the factors that have brought polymer flooding to its current state. Insights are provided on why HPAM is the dominant polymer used as well as what is needed to make alternative polymers and mobility-control methods viable. Explanation is given for why large polymer banks are needed for polymer flooding, and design of the injected polymer viscosity is detailed for cases with/without crossflow. The role of fractures and horizontal wells are discussed for improving injectivity and extending polymer flooding to recover oils with viscosities as high as 10,000 cP. Operational improvements are described to minimize mechanical and oxidative stability to allow HPAM polymers to be viable to 70 °C and ATBS polymers to 120 °C. Key factors affecting polymer retention are summarized. The paper points out unresolved issues and future directions for polymer flooding.

Transient pressure analysis of polymer flooding fractured wells with oil-water two-phase flow

The oil-water two-phase flow pressure-transient analysis model for polymer flooding fractured well is established by considering the comprehensive effects of polymer shear thinning,shear thickening,convection,diffusion,adsorption retention,inaccessible pore volume and effective permeability reduction.The finite volume difference and Newton iteration methods are applied to solve the model,and the effects of fracture conductivity coefficient,injected polymer mass concentration,initial polymer mass concentration and water saturation on the well-test type curves of polymer flooding fractured wells are discussed.The results show that with the increase of fracture conductivity coefficient,the pressure conduction becomes faster and the pressure drop becomes smaller,so the pressure curve of transitional flow goes downward,the duration of bilinear flow becomes shorter,and the linear flow appears earlier and lasts longer.As the injected polymer mass concentration increases,the effective water phase viscosity increases,and the pressure loss increases,so the pressure and pressure derivative curves go upward,and the bilinear flow segment becomes shorter.As the initial polymer mass concentration increases,the effective water phase viscosity increases,so the pressure curve after the wellbore storage segment moves upward as a whole.As the water saturation increases,the relative permeability of water increases,the relative permeability of oil decreases,the total oil-water two-phase mobility becomes larger,and the pressure loss is reduced,so the pressure curve after the wellbore storage segment moves downward as a whole.The reliability and practicability of this new model are verified by the comparison of the results from simplified model and commercial well test software,and the actual well test data.

Establishment of Unstable Flow Model and Well Testing Analysis for Viscoelastic Polymer Flooding

At present, the polymer solution is usually assumed to be Newtonian fluid or pseudoplastic fluid, and its elasticity is not considered on the study of polymer flooding well testing model. A large number of experiments have shown that polymer solutions have viscoelasticity, and disregarding the elasticity will cause certain errors in the analysis of polymer solution seepage law. Based on the percolation theory, this paper describes the polymer flooding mechanism from the two aspects of viscous effect and elastic effect, the mathematical model of oil water two-phase three components unsteady flow in viscoelastic polymer flooding was established, and solved by finite difference method, and the well-test curve was drawn to analyze the rule of well test curve in polymer flooding. The results show that, the degree of upward warping in the radial flow section of the pressure recovery curve when considering polymer elasticity is greater than the curve which not considering polymer elasticity. The relaxation time, power-law index, polymer injection concentration mainly affect the radial flow stage of the well testing curve. The relaxation time, power-law index, polymer injection concentration and other polymer flooding parameters mainly affect the radial flow stage of the well testing curve. The larger the polymer flooding parameters, the greater the degree of upwarping of the radial flow derivative curve. This model has important reference significance for well-testing research in polymer flooding oilfields.

Numerical Simulation of High Concentration Polymer Flooding in Oilfield Development

The field test of high concentration polymer flooding has the characteristics of high cost, long cycle and irreversibility of the reservoir development process. In order to ensure the best development effect of the development block, this paper simulated and calculated the high concentration polymer flooding development case of the polymer flooding pilot test area through numerical simulation research, and selected the best case through the comparison of various development indicators. The simulation results showed that the larger the polymer dosage and the higher the concentration, the better the oil displacement effect. The best injection method in the construction process was the overall injection of high concentration polymer. The test area should implement high concentration polymer oil displacement as soon as possible. The research results provided theoretical guidance for the future development and management of the pilot area.

Necessity and feasibility of improving the residual resistance factor of polymer flooding in heavy oil reservoirs

The efficiency of water flooding in heavy oil reservoirs would be improved by increasing the viscosity of the displacing phase, but the sweep efficiency is not of significance due to the low mobility of the vicious oil. On the basis of mobility control theory, increasing the residual resistance factor not only reduces the water-oil mobility ratio but also decreases the requirement for viscosity enhancement of the polymer solution. The residual resistance factor caused by hydrophobic associating polymer solution is higher than that caused by polyacrylamide solution in brine containing high concentrations of calcium and magnesium ions. The results of numerical simulations show that the polymer flooding efficiency improved by increasing the residual resistance factor is far better than that by only increasing solution viscosity. The recovery factor of heavy oil reservoirs （70 mPa·s） can be enhanced by hydrophobic associating polymer solution of high residual resistance factor （more than 3） and high effective viscosity （24 mPa·s）. Therefore, increasing the residual resistance factor of the polymer solution not only decreases the requirement for the viscosity of polymer solution injected into heavy oil reservoirs but also is favorable to enhanced oil recovery during polymer flooding.

Study of the mechanisms of streamline-adjustment-assisted heterogeneous combination flooding for enhanced oil recovery for post-polymer-flooded reservoirs

Streamline-adjustment-assisted heterogeneous combination flooding is a new technology for enhanced oil recovery for post-polymer-flooded reservoirs.In this work,we first carried out a series of 2D visualization experiments for different chemical flooding scenarios after polymer flooding.Then,we explored the synergistic mechanisms of streamline-adjustment-assisted heterogeneous combination flooding for enhanced oil recovery and the contribution of each component.Test results show that for single heterogeneous combination flooding,the residual oil in the main streamline area after polymer flooding is ready to be driven,but it is difficult to be recovered in the non-main streamline area.Due to the effect of drainage and synergism,the streamline-adjustment-assisted heterogeneous combination flooding diverts the injected chemical agent from the main streamline area to the non-main streamline area,which consequently expands the active area of chemical flooding.Based on the results from the single-factor contribution of the quantitative analysis,the contribution of temporary plugging and profile control of branched preformed particle gels ranks in the first place and followed by the polymer profile control and the effect of streamline adjustment.On the contrary,the surfactant contributes the least to enhance the efficiency of oil displacement.

Advanced treatment of oil recovery wastewater from polymer flooding by UV/H_2O_2/O_3 and fine filtration

In order to purify oil recovery wastewater from polymer flooding （ORWPF） in tertiary oil recovery in oil fields, advanced treatment of UV/H2O2/O3 and fine filtration were investigated. The experimental results showed that polyacrylamide and oil remaining in ORWPF after the conventional treatment process could be effectively removed by UV/H2O2/O3 process. Fine filtration gave a high performance in eliminating suspended solids. The treated ORWPF can meet the quality requirement of the wastewater-bearing polymer injection in oilfield and be safely re-injected into oil reservoirs for oil recovery.

Effect of nonionic surfactants in release media on accelerated in-vitro release profile of sirolimus eluting stents with biodegradable polymeric coating

It is a well-known fact that sirolimus(SRL) undergoes degradation process via hydrolysis in aqueous media, leading to incorrect assessment of drug amount and thus release characteristics of formulations.The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of nonionic surfactants in media on invitro release profiles for sirolimus eluting stents(SES) coated with biodegradable polymeric matrix.Phosphate buffer and acetate buffer incorporating nonionic surfactants with varying concentrations were examined for adequate solubility and stability(by RP-HPLC). Good sink condition was achieved in phosphate buffer(at pH 4.0) with 1.0% Tween 20, 1.0% Brij 35% and 0.5% Brij 58. Hydrodynamic size(by DLS) and the micelle-water partition coefficient(P) with standard free energy of solubilization(ΔGs°) of drug were evaluated to get some understanding about the solubilization phenomena. About 80% of drug release during the period of 48 h was achieved in optimized drug release media which was 1.0% Tween20 in phosphate buffer pH 4.0. The obtained accelerated SRL release profile in optimized medium correlated well with the real time in-vitro release in phosphate buffer(pH 7.4). Surface morphology changes(by SEM), changes in gravimetric weights and molecular weight change(by GPC) were examined before and after drug release to understand the drug release mechanism which explains that the polymer did not undergo degradation during the drug release.

Enhanced oil recovery mechanisms of polymer flooding in a heterogeneous oil reservoir

Taking reservoir rocks and fluids of the Daqing,Dagang and Changqing oilfields as research objects,the EOR mechanisms and technical approach of polymer flooding were discussed.By comparing the displacement performances of ordinary polymer,glycerol,polymer in"sheet-net"structure and heterogeneous weak gel at the same viscosity and concentration,the relationship between the viscosity of polymer displacement agents and displacement performance was demonstrated,and the method of improving polymer flooding effect was worked out.The main mechanism of polymer flooding to increase oil recovery is the swept volume expansion of water injection due to polymer retention in porous media.The viscosity of polymer agents has no positive correlation with polymer flooding effect.Although polymer of"sheet-net"structure has strong capacity in increasing viscosity,it has poor compatibility with pore throat structure of reservoir rock,low injectivity and low shear resistance.Heterogeneous weak gel system has higher adsorption and capture capacity in porous media,which is easy to retain in porous media,and can effectively establish seepage resistance in high permeability layers(zones).Compared with polymer solutions with the same viscosity or concentration,it has stronger ability to expand swept volume.Long term injection of polymer flooding agents will inevitably lead to fluid entry profile reversal,and thus worsening of polymer flooding effect.Alternate injection of high retention and low or non-retention displacement agents can further improve the displacement effect of polymer flooding agents.

PREPARATION,IDENTIFICATION AND INTERFACIAL ACTIVITIES OF PETROLEUM CARBOXYLATE AS SURFACTANT FOR CHEMICAL FLOODING

Petroleum carboxylate that may be suitable for tertiary oil recovery have been produced inexpensively from the fractions of Daqing crude oil by a two step process.The feed stock was first oxidized in the vapor phase,followed by reaction of the oxidized products with sodium hydroxide.Dilute solutions of sodium carboxylates were produced and show ultralow(10^(-2)mN/m)interfacial tensions(IFTs)against a variety of hydrocarbons with a wide range of ACN(Alkane Carbon Number).Infrared spectroscopy was used to identify the functional groups in the oxidized and the saponified products.

CURRENT COLLOIDAL DISPERSION GELS ARE NOT SUPERIOR TO POLYMER FLOODING

The suggestion that the colloidal-dispersion-gel (CDG) process is superior to normal polymer flooding is misleading and generally incorrect. Colloidal dispersion gels, in their present state of technological development, should not be advocated as an improvement to, or substitute for, polymer flooding. Gels made from aluminum-citrate crosslinked polyacrylamides can act as conventional gels and provide effective conformance improvement in treating some types of excess water production problems if sound scientific and engineering principles are respected.

The effect of betaine surfactants on the association behavior of associating polymer

The interfacial properties and rheological behavior of surfactant/polymer complex systems were measured to investigate the association behavior of the associating polymer.Compared with the pure surfactant solution,there are two inflection points in the surface tension curve for the surfactant/polymer complex systems.The two inflection points are dependent on the surfactant type and polymer concentration.The effect of surfactant on the rheological behavior of polymer can be divided into two aspects.First,the addition of short-chain betaine surfactant is detrimental to the viscosity of polymer solution due to the electrostatic shielding effect.Second,long-chain betaine surfactant also reduces the viscosity of polymer solutions at low concentrations.However,when the concentration of the long-chain betaine surfactant is relatively high,the long-chain betaine surfactant could form worm-like micelles that promote the intermolecular association and thus increase the number of associating junctions,thereby resulting in the augmentation of viscosity.So it is necessary to apply the long-chain betaine surfactant to build the polymer/surfactant flooding system.The interaction model between surfactant and polymer is proposed,which is different from the traditional‘Three-Region Model’.

Stabilization of nickel nanoparticle suspensions with the aid of polymer and surfactant: static bottle tests and dynamic micromodel flow tests

Nickel nanoparticles can work as catalyst for the aquathermolysis reactions between water and heavy oil.A homogeneous and stable suspension is needed to carry the nickel nanoparticles into deeper reservoirs.This study conducts a detailed investigation on how to achieve stabilized nickel nanoparticle suspensions with the use of surfactant and polymer.To stabilize the nickel nanoparticle suspension,three surfactants including sodium dodecyl sulfate,cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and polyoxyalkalene amine derivative(Hypermer) along with xanthan gum polymer were introduced into the nickel nanoparticle suspension.Static stability tests and zeta potential measurements were conducted to determine the polymer/surfactant recipes yielding the most stable nickel nanoparticle suspensions.Dynamic micromodel flow tests were also conducted on three suspensions to reveal how the nickel nanoparticles would travel and distribute in porous media.Test results showed that when the injection was initiated,most nickel nanoparticles were able to pass through the gaps between the sand grains and produced in the outlet of the micromodel;only a small number of the nickel nanoparticles were attached to the grain surface.A higher nickel concentration in the suspension may lead to agglomeration of nickel nanoparticles in porous media,while a lower concentration can mitigate this agglomeration.Moreover,clusters tended to form when the nickel nanoparticle suspension carried an electrical charge opposite to that of the porous media.Follow-up waterflood was initiated after the nanofluid injection.It was found that the waterflood could not flush away the nanoparticles that were remaining in the micromodel.

Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of Permeability Changes during EOR Polymer Flooding Using Micromodels

Polymer solutions are used in chemical EOR processes to achieve incremental oil recoveries through obtaining favorable mobility ratios. In the process, the?in-situ?viscosity is a key parameter for the polymer flood design, as well as the changes in permeability due to the retention or adsorption (e.g.: plugging). Understanding the major causes of the plugging effects allows?predicting injectivity problems as well as optimizing project design. The objective of this work is to use glass-silicon-glass micromodels in combination with tracer particles—attached to the flooded fluids—to qualitatively and quantitatively describe the extent of permeability changes?after polymer injection. Laboratory work is performed in order to determine the physical properties of the polymer solutions when they flow through porous media, such as the presence of permeability reduction/plugging of the micromodel. A statistical analysis of the distribution and extent of plugged areas?is performed and a study of the pressure response during various injection stages will complement the study. A biopolymer (Scleroglucan) was tested and compared to a commonly used polymer, giving a direct insight into their pros and cons. Five different concentrations of polymers were tested and put into relation with their quantitative and qualitative amount of sort of called retention. The amount of adsorption was determined?experimentally in one case in order to draw the significance. By exploiting the potential of GSG-micromodels in combination with tracer particles, it was possible to visualize the reduction of flow paths and its increase during various injections for the first time. Expanding the working principle proposed in this work could provide further understanding of the behavior of any polymers.?The results obtained and workflow presented in this work allow for additional understanding of polymer solutions behavior in flooding applications. Furthermore, the definition of optimized workflows to?assess any kind of solutions in porous media and permeability changes is?supported.

Influence of Surfactant-polymer Complexes on Crystallization and Aggregation of CaCO_3

Hollow calcium carbonate（CaCO3） microspheres with different morphologies were synthesized via the precipitation reaction of calcium chloride with sodium carbonate in the presence of different surfactant-polymer complexes.The selected anionic surfactants were sodium dodecyl sulfonate（SDS） and sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate（SDBS）,respectively.The selected water-soluble polymers were polyacrylic acid（PAA） and polyvinyl pyrrolidone（PVP）.In this work,SDS-PVP ＂pearl-necklace model＂ micellar complex was formed via hydrophobic effectiveness between SDS and PVP and it served as the spherical template to generate spherical CaCO3 aggregates with hollow microspheres composed of about 500 nm irregular shaped particles.SDS-PAA complexes and SDBS-PAA complexes formed ＂core-shell model＂ aggregates with calcium ions serving as the medium to link the anionic surfactant and the polymer.SDS-PAA ＂core-shell model＂ aggregates would act as templates for hollow CaCO3 microspheres consisting of 30―50nm irregular shaped crystallites.SDBS-PAA ＂core-shell model＂ aggregates served as the spherical aggregate templates to generate spherical CaCO3 aggregates consisted of many small spherical particles which had grown together.All the obtained CaCO3 hollow microspheres are calcite particles.This research may provide new insight into the control of morphologies of hollow CaCO3 microspheres in the presence of surfactantpolymer complexes.

A New Surfactant Flooding Model for Low Permeability Reservoirs

Surfactant as a successful Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) agent has been widely used in many mature reservoirs. This research focuses on the description of surfactant solution at low permeability condition. A new three-dimensional, two?phase, three-component surfactant simulator is presented. The simulator is based on the non-Darcy flow characteristics of surfactant flooding in the low permeability formations. The change of threshold pressure and influences of surfactant on convection, diffusion, adsorption, and retention, are all considered. A new equation for the calculation of surfactant adsorption is employed, which can significantly promote the matching degree between the mathematical model and field practice. The design of this new simulator is to help the decision-making in the reservoir engineering analysis of surfactant EOR projects, to face the challenge of the design of injection schemes, to assist the surfactant screening, to screen and assess laboratory and field data and their effect on the performance predictions, and to find the optimal methods of field development.