Main Controlling Factor of Polymer-Surfactant Flooding to Improve Recovery in Heterogeneous Reservoir

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the influence of viscosity and interfacial tension (IFT) on the recovery in heterogeneous reservoir and determines the main controlling factors of the polymer-surfactant (SP) flooding. The influence of the salinity and shearing action on the polymer viscosity and effects of the surfactant concentration on the IFT and emulsion behavior between chemical agent and oil were studied through the static and flooding experiments. The results show that increasing the concentration of polymer GF-11 (HPAM) can reduce the influence of the salinity and GF-11 has high shear-resistance property. In the condition of the Jilin Oilfield, the oil/water IFT can reach 10 −3 mN/m when the surfactant concentration is 0.3 wt%. The lower the IFT is, the easier the emulsion of SP and oil is formed. Seven flooding experiments are conducted with the SP system. The results show that the recovery can be improved for 5.02%-15.98% under the synergistic effect of the polymer and surfactant. In the heterogeneous reservoir, the contribution of oil recovery is less than that of the sweep volume.

High-Performance Polymeric Surfactant of Sodium Lignosulfonate-Polyethylene Glycol 4000 (SLS-PEG) for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Process

“…Therefore, the viscosity of the surfactant has to be optimized. However, it is reported that high viscosity surfactant is required to reduce the oil-water mobility ratio and enhance oil recovery [12]. Fig.…”

“…Therefore, this polymer can be used in the EOR process. Yin and Zhao [12] studied the effect of viscosity and face stress for oil uptake in heterogeneous reservoirs and determined controlling factors on surfactant-polymer (SP) flooding. The results showed that the higher the polymer concentration would increase the viscosity.…”

Synthesis and performance evaluation of polymeric surfactant from rice husk and polyethylene glycol for the enhanced oil recovery process

“…It was reported that a high surfactant viscosity is needed in the EOR process. Surfactants with high viscosity can enhance or increase oil recovery due to their ability to reduce oil-water mobility [14,15]. Even though a viscous surfactant can enhance or increase the oil recovery in the EOR process, it may block the pore of rock [3].…”

“…However, if the viscosity of the surfactant is too high, it can block the reservoir; conversely, if the viscosity of the surfactant is too low, mobility is not appropriate [14]. Yin and Zhao [15] have studied the effect of viscosity and interfacial tension on oil recovery in the heterogeneous reservoir and determined the main controlling factors of the polymer-surfactant (SP) flooding. They reported that a higher polymer concentration could increase the surfactant viscosity.…”

Syntheses of a Hyperbranched Polymer and Its Performance on Enhanced Oil Recovery

“…Flory discussed the possibility of HBP syntheses by polycondensation of the AB x -type monomer, to which attention was not paid at the time (Flory, 1941;Flory, 1952). The studies on the topic have thrived since 1990s, and their applications have been extended to enhanced oil recovery (Algharaib et al, 2014;Sun et al, 2016;Yin and Zhao, 2017). Addition of HBPs leads to greater oil recovery than conventional polymers in core flooding experiments (Luo et al, 2019;Jianbo et al, 2020;Chen et al, 2020).…”