Gum arabic (GA) capacity as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) agent is studied and compared to the commonly applied xanthan gum (XG). FTIR and TGA characterisation of these two polyelectrolytes and a rheology study by viscosity measurement was conducted on their polymeric and nano-polymeric solution at varying concentrations of the polymers and nanoparticles (NP). Coreflooding experiments were conducted based on a sequence of waterflooding and three slugs of increasing concentration of polymeric (and nano-polymeric) solutions to evaluate EOR performance. Results show similar rheology and oil recovery for 1.0 wt% GA and a 0.1 wt% XG polymeric solution. And the viscosity of GA tends to be Newtonian at a relatively high shear rate. The magnitude of incremental oil recovery of the first slug is independent of the GA concentration but significant for XG. However, the impact of nano-polymeric solution on oil recovery is higher than the polymeric solution. The increase in NP concentration played a vital role in oil recovery, thereby connoting the significance of IFT, contact angle, and its associated mechanisms for EOR. And FTIR affirms that the hydroxyl group in XG is less than GA, thus responsible for adsorption of GA compared to XG.

Polymers increase the macroscopic efficiency of the flooding process and increase crude oil recovery. The viscosity of 3 polymers xanthan, guar, and Arabic gums is measured in the lab and experimented with as EOR options. Xanthan and guar gum polymers are measured in weight percentages of 0.1, 0.2, 0.2, 0.4, 0.5, and 1, while gum Arabic is measured in 0.4, 0.5, 1, 5, 10, and 15 weight percentages. The viscosity experiments showed that gum Arabic had the lowest viscosity at 15% wt. Xanthan gum and guar gum had significantly higher viscosities than gum Arabic at corresponding weight percentages. At the same weight of 0.5%, xanthan, guar, and Arabic gums recorded a 63%, 53%, and 46% oil recovery, respectively. Due to the limitations surrounding core flooding experiments such as human error, equipment failure, and measurement of oil recoveries, it is necessary to validate the results obtained with other methods such as reservoir simulation. A reservoir model is built (using Eclipse) and incorporated with polymer and viscosity functions measured in the lab to validate results from the core flooding experiments. Peak oil recovery of 9.96%, 9.95%, and 9.90% was recorded for xanthan, guar, and Arabic gum, respectively, at a weight percentage of 0.5% weight. Also, increasing the wt% of injected polymers increases oil recovery. Results also indicate that the trend of oil recoveries during core flooding follows that observed during reservoir simulation and oil production increased as percentage weight increased for all the polymer cases considered.

Polymer flooding is one of the most effective processes to improve crude oil recovery. However, the capacity of natural polymers to displace crude oil is determined by their rheological behaviour in the face of prevailing reservoir conditions. Poor rheological stability of water-soluble polymers challenges their application in harsh reservoir conditions, making it important to investigate the characteristics of polymers and their corresponding nanocomposites for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The main objective of this work is to conduct characterization tests for three polymers (Gum Arabic, Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum) and three nanoparticles (silica, alumina and cupric), and to investigate the viscosity profile of the polymers under different conditions of temperature, salinity, nanoparticle weight percentage and polymer weight percentage. SEM was used to characterize the nanoparticles while FTIR and TGA were used to characterize the polymers. All viscosity measurements were conducted using an OFITE Viscometer. The SEM, FTIR and TGA results are presented in figures while the viscosity results are presented as raw data in tables. The data should be used to support oil recovery experiments, economic analysis of the use of polymers and nanocomposites in EOR and the study of adsorption and permeability impairment in core flooding tests.

Guar gum is a polysaccharide that occurs naturally, and has useful properties in thickening and stabilizing. This makes it of interest in enhanced oil recovery, because of its ability to increase the sweep efficiency of the recovery process. Also, guar gum has an economical and reliable supply as well as flexible chemistry. Guar gum, however, cannot interact with oil-rock surface or the oil-water interface, thereby limiting its capacity to recover crude oil. Nanoparticles can, therefore, be mixed with guar gum to increase its recovery potential. Silicon oxide nanoparticles can be combined with a polymer to form a polymer nanocomposite, which can then be used to increase the overall efficiency of the crude oil recovery process. In this study, the viscosity profile of guar gum was investigated under different conditions of temperature and weight percentages. Four temperatures were investigated: 30, 50, 75, and 90°C. Six weight percentages were also investigated in the viscosity tests: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 1. The oil recovery potential of guar gum and guar gum nanocomposite was also investigated at different weight percentages. Across the six weight percentages used in the viscosity study, it was observed that there was an average percentage loss in viscosity of 33 % as the temperature was increased from 30°C to 90°C at the highest shear rate of 1021 s-1. At 30°C, the viscosity of guar gum was seen to increase by close to 1000 % as weight percentage was increased from 0.1 to 1. The recovery factor observed during core flooding tests utilizing guar gum at three different concentrations indicated an increment of 48, 51, and 54% respectively. On addition of silicon oxide nanoparticles at different concentrations, oil recovery was enhanced by 54 % to 67.2 % OOIP. This validates the recovery potential of guar gum for enhanced oil recovery.

A nanocomposite is a mixture of a nanoparticle and a complementary substance. In crude oil recovery, it is most commonly the combination of a nanoparticle and a polymer. In enhanced oil recovery, metal oxide nanoparticles may be combined with polymers and injected into a reservoir after water flooding to achieve greater recovery of crude oil; however, current research in this area is limited. In this work, rheological properties and oil recovery potential of two nanocomposites: alumina/xanthan gum and alumina/guar gum; were investigated. The viscosity of different concentrations of the nanocomposites was measured using the Model 800 OFITE Viscometer, and core flooding experiment was done using a Reservoir Permeability Tester. For both nanocomposites, it was observed that their viscosities increased with increasing concentration of alumina nanoparticles and the effect was higher as polymer concentration was increased. For the core flooding experiments, the xanthan gum and alumina composite achieved total recovery of 72.8 % while the guar gum alumina nanocomposite achieved total recovery of 69.3 %. The use of alumina combinations of nanocomposite is, therefore, promising and should be explored further.