Abstract
Performance of a polymer flood process requires the knowledge of rheological behavior of the polymer solution and reservoir properties such as rock wettability. To provide a better understanding of effects of polymer chemistry and wettability on the performance of a polymer flood process, a comprehensive experimental study was conducted using a two-dimensional glass micromodel. A series of water and polymer flood processes were carried out at different polymer molecular weights, degrees of polymer hydrolysis, and polymer concentrations in both water-wet and oil-wet systems. Image processing technique was applied to analyze and compare microscopic and macroscopic displacement behaviors of polymer solution in each experiment. From micro-scale observations, the configuration of connate water film, polymer solution trapping, flow of continuous and discontinuous strings of polymer solution, piston-type displacement of oil, snap-off of polymer solution, distorted flow of polymer solution, emulsion formation, and microscopic pore-to-pore sweep of oil phase were observed and analyzed in the strongly oil-wet and water-wet media. Rheological experiments showed that a higher polymer molecular weight, degree of hydrolysis, and concentration result in a higher apparent viscosity for polymer solution and lower oil–polymer viscosity ratio. It is also shown that these parameters have different impacts on the oil recovery in different wettabilities. Moreover, a water-wet medium generally had higher recovery in contrast with an oil-wet medium. This experimental study illustrates the successful application of glass micromodel techniques for studying enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes in five-spot pattern and provides a useful reference for understanding the displacement behaviors in a typical polymer flood process.
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Abbreviations
- BT:
-
Breakthrough time
- C p :
-
Polymer concentration
- EOR:
-
Enhanced oil recovery
- k :
-
Absolute permeability (Darcy)
- MWp :
-
Polymer molecular weight (g/mol)
- OOIP:
-
Original oil in place, dimensionless
- PHPA:
-
Partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide
- PV:
-
Pore volume (cm3)
- R B :
-
Breakthrough recovery
- R 1.5 IPV :
-
Recovery at 1.5 injected pore volume
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Emami Meybodi, H., Kharrat, R. & Wang, X. Study of Microscopic and Macroscopic Displacement Behaviors of Polymer Solution in Water-Wet and Oil-Wet Media. Transp Porous Med 89, 97–120 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-011-9754-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-011-9754-5