Ethanolamine as Alkali for Alkali Surfactant Polymer Flooding - Development of a Low-Complexity Field Implementation Concept

Southwick, J. G.; Brewer, Mark; Batenburg, Diederik van; Pieterse, Sebastiaan; Bouwmeester, Ron; Mahruqi, Dawood; Alkindi, Abdullah; Mjeni, Rifaat

doi:10.2118/200432-ms

Cited by 17 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Alkali-polymer injection is a promising technology to increase oil recovery in fields containing reactive oils. The initially generated soaps of the alkali with the reactive components of the oil can be measured to determine the amount of soap generated as a function of pH and the minimum required alkali concentration [22]. IFT measurements and phase behavior tests can be used to evaluate the presence of stable Windsor III emulsions (e.g., [23,24]) or thermodynamically instable emulsions (e.g., [9,25,26]) and the presence of salt-crude oil complexes at high alkali concentrations which are detrimental for enhanced oil recovery [27].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing Polymer Costs and Efficiency in Alkali–Polymer Oilfield Applications

et al. 2022

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In this work, we present various evaluations that are key prior field applications. The workflow combines laboratory approaches to optimize the usage of polymers in combination with alkali to improve project economics. We show that the performance of AP floods can be optimized by making use of lower polymer viscosities during injection but increasing polymer viscosities in the reservoir owing to “aging” of the polymers at high pH. Furthermore, AP conditions enable the reduction of polymer retention in the reservoir, decreasing the utility factors (kg polymers injected/incremental bbl. produced). We used aged polymer solutions to mimic the conditions deep in the reservoir and compared the displacement efficiencies and the polymer adsorption of non-aged and aged polymer solutions. The aging experiments showed that polymer hydrolysis increases at high pH, leading to 60% higher viscosity in AP conditions. Micromodel experiments in two-layer chips depicted insights into the displacement, with reproducible recoveries of 80% in the high-permeability zone and 15% in the low-permeability zone. The adsorption for real rock using 8 TH RSB brine was measured to be approximately half of that in the case of Berea: 27 µg/g vs. 48 µg/g, respectively. The IFT values obtained for the AP lead to very low values, reaching 0.006 mN/m, while for the alkali, they reach only 0.44 mN/m. The two-phase experiments confirmed that lower-concentration polymer solutions aged in alkali show the same displacement efficiency as non-aged polymers with higher concentrations. Reducing the polymer concentration leads to a decrease in EqUF by 40%. If alkali–polymer is injected immediately without a prior polymer slug, then the economics are improved by 37% compared with the polymer case. Hence, significant cost savings can be realized capitalizing on the fast aging in the reservoir. Due to the low polymer retention in AP floods, fewer polymers are consumed than in conventional polymer floods, significantly decreasing the utility factor.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing Polymer Costs and Efficiency in Alkali–Polymer Oilfield Applications

et al. 2022

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“…Crude oil with high acidity (acid number) can be suitable for ASP flooding [29]. For efficient ASP flooding, a reduced amount of alkali is used for a high acid number of crude oil [30]. The emulsification effect and viscosity enhancement make ASP flooding more effective [31].…”

Section: Alkaline-surfactant-polymer (Asp) Floodingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical Review of Alkaline Flooding: Mechanism, Hybrid Flooding Methods, Laboratory Work, Pilot Projects, and Field Applications

2022

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Over time, the dependence on oil has increased to meet industrial and domestic needs. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques in this regard have captured immense growth as EOR is not only used to increase the oil recovery but also to augment the sweep efficiency. Several techniques over the past decades have been used to improve oil recovery with cost-effectiveness. Cost-effective alkaline flooding has been effective for those oil reservoirs with a high total acid number. In this review, the significance of alkaline flooding has been discussed in detail, as well as the features of alkaline flooding in comparison to other modes of flooding. This review entails (1) alkaline flooding, (2) hybrid modes of injection, (3) experimental work, (4) pilot projects, (5) screening criteria, and (6) field applications. The findings of this study can help increase the understanding of alkaline flooding and provide a holistic view of the hybrid modes of flooding.

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“…The data are summarized in Table 1. The TAN number of the oil amounts to 5.67 mg KOH/g and the saponifiable acids around 116 µmol/g, as determined by the method described by Southwick et al [28], shown in Figure 1 and measured by soap generated by titration at a given pH for the 10-ML crude Polymers 2024, 16, 854 3 of 25 oil. For experimental application, a mixture was used in order to match the reservoir viscosity, 100 mPa•s at 35 • C, using 10-ML oil + 4% cyclohexane.…”

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confidence: 99%

Alkali Polymer Flooding of a Romanian Field Containing Viscous Reactive Oil

Hoffmann,

Hincapie,

Borovina

et al. 2024

Polymers

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The study demonstrates the significant enhancement in oil production from a Romanian oil field using alkali–polymer (AP) flooding for reactive viscous oil. We conducted comprehensive interfacial tension (IFT) measurements across various alkali and AP concentrations, along with phase behavior assessments. Micromodel flooding experiments were used to examine pore-scale effects and select appropriate chemical concentrations. We tested displacement efficiency at the core level and experimented with different sequences and concentrations of alkali and polymers to minimize costs while maximizing the additional recovery of reactive viscous oil. The IFT analysis revealed that saponification at the oil–alkali interface significantly lowers IFT, but IFT gradually increases as soap diffuses away from the interface. Micromodels indicated that polymer or alkali injection alone achieve only minimal incremental recovery beyond waterflooding. However, AP flooding significantly enhanced incremental oil recovery by efficiently moving the mobilized oil with the viscous fluid and increasing exposure of more oil to the alkali solution. Coreflood experiments corroborated these findings. We also explored how divalent cations influence polymer concentration selection, finding that softening the injection brine significantly increased the viscosity of the AP slug.

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Ethanolamine as Alkali for Alkali Surfactant Polymer Flooding - Development of a Low-Complexity Field Implementation Concept

Cited by 17 publications

References 14 publications

Optimizing Polymer Costs and Efficiency in Alkali–Polymer Oilfield Applications

Optimizing Polymer Costs and Efficiency in Alkali–Polymer Oilfield Applications

A Critical Review of Alkaline Flooding: Mechanism, Hybrid Flooding Methods, Laboratory Work, Pilot Projects, and Field Applications

Alkali Polymer Flooding of a Romanian Field Containing Viscous Reactive Oil

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