Surfactant-Polymer Flooding Schemes (A Comparative Analysis)

Abstract

Surfactant Polymer (SP) flooding-a chemical EOR method, involves the injection of surfactants into the reservoir to reduce interfacial tension between oil and water and thus reduce capillary pressure for easy mobilization of oil. Polymers are also injected alongside to reduce mobility ratio and gather the oil droplet within the reservoir to create an oil bank and mobilize the oil towards the wellbore.In this paper, three different methods or mechanisms of implementing surfactant Polymer flooding were considered. Firstly, for Scheme or Method A, after water flooding, Sodium Dodecyl sulphate slug was injected then followed by gum Arabic slug. For Scheme B, a slug consisting of a mixture of Sodium Dodecyl sulphate and gum Arabic was injected after water flooding. In Scheme C, the core was first soaked with Sodium Dodecyl sulphate and then flooded with gum Arabic.The result showed a recovery of 56.25% of the water flooding residual oil for the first method while the other two Methods yielded displacement efficiencies of 66.12% and 64.4% respectively.In summary, the Mechanisms of implementing an SP flooding have some effects on the Oil recovery and as such care must be taken in selecting the mechanism to be adopted so as to optimize recovery.

Impact of Natural Surfactant (Reetha), Polymer (Xanthan Gum), and Silica Nanoparticles To Enhance Heavy Crude Oil Recovery

“…These coupled effects significantly enhance the capillary number and hence catapult higher oil recovery. ,− A polymer increases the viscosity of the displacing fluid, which improves the oil–water mobility ratio and hence gives better sweep efficiency. Numerous surfactant polymer flooding schemes investigated to date have reported upon such symphony. − …”

Visualização Tridimensional Do Deslocamento De Óleo Por Suspensões De Microcápsulas Flexíveis Em Meios Porosos

“…A injeção de surfactante é um processo desenvolvido para recuperar o óleo residual ao diminuir as forças capilares e facilitar a sua mobilização. As forças capilares são consequência da tensão interfacial, IFT, entre as fases água e óleo, que resistem às forças viscosas aplicadas externamente e que fazem com que a fase aquosa injetada, passe pelo óleo sem carregá-lo (Felix et al, 2015).…”

Evaluation of the Dynamic Interfacial Tension between Viscoelastic Surfactant Solutions and Oil Using Porous Micromodels

“…Surfactants are used to lower the interfacial tension (IFT) to facilitate the transportation of the trapped oil. Polymers are used to increase the viscosity of the displacing fluid and provide a mobility control agent to prevent water breakthrough. − Usually, a combination of surfactant polymers or alkali-surfactant polymers is used in the industry to achieve both IFT reduction and mobility control. − Viscoelastic surfactants have properties of both the polymer and surfactant, and they can lower the IFT and increase the viscosity. They showed good potential as a CEOR candidate which can also withstand harsh conditions such as salinity and temperature. − Salinity presents a great challenge especially in the middle east as freshwater is rare and barely sufficient for domestic purposes.…”