Optimized polymer flooding projects via combination of experimental design and reservoir simulation

Bengar, Ali; Moradi, Shapour; Ganjeh-Ghazvini, Mostafa; Shokrollahi, Amin

doi:10.1016/j.petlm.2017.05.006

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Extensive research has proven that PF numerical simulation is a powerful tool for feasibility evaluation, scheme optimization, and production forecasting of PF, which can effectively reduce the risks associated with PF and play a guiding role in assessing and controlling PF [ 19 ]. An ideal PF numerical simulator should comprehensively consider the most relevant mechanisms and describe a PF process as accurately as possible in order to assure reliable results [ 20 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Heavy Oil Reservoirs: Experimental and Simulation Studies

Xin

et al. 2021

Polymers

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Polymer flooding (PF) in heterogeneous heavy oil reservoirs is not only closely related to polymer degradation, but also to non-Newtonian flow. In this paper, both experimental and simulation methods are combined to investigate this type of flooding. Through experiments, the degradation of polymer, rheological properties of fluids, and flow of fluids in porous media were determined. Based on the experimental results, a novel mathematical model was established, and a new PF simulator was designed, validated, and further applied to study the effects of polymer degradation, polymer solution shear thinning, and non-Newtonian flow on PF in heterogeneous heavy oil reservoirs. These experimental results demonstrated that the polymer first-order static degradation rate constant was lower than the polymer first-order dynamic degradation rate constant; the polymer solution and heavy oil were non-Newtonian fluids, with shear thinning and Bingham fluid properties, respectively; and the heavy oil threshold pressure gradient (TPG) in low-permeability porous media was higher than that in high-permeability porous media. All comparison results showed that the designed simulator was highly accurate and reliable, and could well describe both polymer degradation and non-Newtonian flow, with special emphasis on the distinction between polymer static and dynamic degradation and heavy oil TPG. Furthermore, the simulation results verified that polymer degradation, polymer solution shear thinning, and heavy oil TPG all had negative effects on the efficiency of PF in heterogeneous heavy oil reservoirs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Heavy Oil Reservoirs: Experimental and Simulation Studies

Xin

et al. 2021

Polymers

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“…Bevillon and Mohagerani [14] used Latin Hypercube design to check sensitivities and quantify uncertainties in a miscible EOR project in the Middle East. Bengar et al [15] conducted sensitivity analysis for polymer injection using two-level full factorial design. Adepoju et al [16] proposed a lumped approach to account for parameter dependency in a surfactant-polymer flood and demonstrated their method on a field case.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of an Improved Polymer Flooding Scheme by Compositionally-Tuned Slugs

2020

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Polymer flooding is an effective enhanced oil recovery technology used to reduce the mobility ratio and improve sweep efficiency. A new polymer injection scheme is investigated that relies on the cyclical injection of low-salinity, low-concentration polymer slugs chased by high-salinity, high-concentration polymer slugs. The effectiveness of the process is a function of several reservoir and design parameters related to polymer type, concentration, salinity, and reservoir heterogeneity. We use reservoir simulations and design-of-experiments (DoE) to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed polymer injection scheme. We show how key objective functions, such as recovery factor and injectivity, are impacted by the reservoir and design parameters. In this study, simulations showed that the new slug-based process was always superior to the reference polymer injection scheme using the traditional continuous injection scheme. Our results show that the process is most effective when the polymer weight is high, corresponding to large inaccessible pore-volumes, which enhances polymer acceleration. High vertical heterogeneity typically reduces the process performance because of increased mixing in the reservoir. The significance of this process is that it allows for increased polymer solution viscosity in the reservoir without increasing the total mass of polymer, and without impairing polymer injectivity at the well.

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“…Polymer flooding simulation was chosen due to its effectiveness in forecasting, estimating, and analyzing the factors that influence polymer flooding [26]. Most polymer physicochemical properties can be characterized [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Polymer Degradation on Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

Xin

Chen

et al. 2018

Polymers

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Polymer degradation is critical for polymer flooding because it can significantly influence the viscosity of a polymer solution, which is a dominant property for polymer enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In this work, physical experiments and numerical simulations were both used to study partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) degradation and its effect on polymer flooding in heterogeneous reservoirs. First, physical experiments were conducted to determine basic physicochemical properties of the polymer, including viscosity and degradation. Notably, a novel polymer dynamic degradation experiment was recommended in the evaluation process. Then, a new mathematical model was proposed and an in-house three-dimensional (3D) two-phase polymer flooding simulator was designed to examine both polymer static and dynamic degradation. The designed simulator was validated by comparison with the simulation results obtained from commercial software and the results from the polymer flooding experiments. This simulator further investigated and validated polymer degradation and its effect. The results of the physical experiments showed that the viscosity of a polymer solution increases with an increase in polymer concentration, demonstrating their underlying power law relationship. Moreover, the viscosity of a polymer solution with the same polymer concentration decreases with an increase in the shear rate, demonstrating shear thinning. Furthermore, the viscosity of a polymer solution decreased with an increase in time due to polymer degradation, exhibiting an exponential relationship. The first-order dynamic degradation rate constant of 0.0022 day−1 was greater than the first-order static degradation rate constant of 0.0017 day−1. According to the simulation results for the designed simulator, a 7.7% decrease in oil recovery, after a cumulative injection volume of 1.67 pore volume (PV) was observed between the first-order dynamic degradation rate constants of 0 and 0.1 day−1, which indicates that polymer degradation has a detrimental effect on polymer flooding efficiency.

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Optimized polymer flooding projects via combination of experimental design and reservoir simulation

Cited by 18 publications

References 1 publication

Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Heavy Oil Reservoirs: Experimental and Simulation Studies

Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Heavy Oil Reservoirs: Experimental and Simulation Studies

Investigation of an Improved Polymer Flooding Scheme by Compositionally-Tuned Slugs

Effect of Polymer Degradation on Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

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