Treatment of Produced Polymer-Containing Water with a Water Treatment Pilot Unit in the Matzen Field, Austria

Most of the crude oil is already recovered and discovering new oilfields tend to be challenging and difficult. Implementing an EOR method is essential to enhance the production life of mature oil fields and to make them economically more attractive. Especially, for heavy oil reservoirs chemical flooding is besides thermal methods promising. Only a limited number of alkali flood projects alone are reported worldwide. Phase screening represents the first step of experiments and gives information about the ability of various alkali solutions to generate in-situ surfactants at different concentration ranges. In this study, carbonate-based alkalis were screened on their effect on in-situ soap generation. Two oil reservoirs both located in the Matzen oil field (Austria) were observed, where an alkali flood project will be realized in the near future. In lab scale, were phase experiments with various concentrations of carbonate-based alkalis (sodium and potassium carbonate) screened at the water-oil-ratio 5:5. Formulations with synthetic and real softened brine were compared, using dead oil and viscosity-matched oil with cyclohexane. Samples were observed over time (100 days) to figure out their equilibrium at reservoir temperature. Afterwards large-scale samples were prepared and viscosity measurements performed. Potassium carbonate (K2CO3) is not well investigated in the literature as an alkali agent yet. It showed very promising results in all performed trials and generated remarkably more amounts of in-situ surfactants compared to Na2CO3, which is the most frequently used alkali performer. Additionally, in most concentrations the micro emulsion viscosities were lower. Thus, potassium carbonate might be an interesting candidate in future alkali applications.

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Field Tests with a Multi Chamber Flotation Technology: Advanced Water Treatment in EOR Polymer Operation

Grillneder

Marx

Jamek

et al. 2022

Day 1 Mon, March 21, 2022

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Cost-effective treatment of produced water is crucial for the implementation of EOR technologies. A multi-chamber flotation unit was tested under real-field conditions for a polymer flood of the Matzen field, Austria. The operating conditions, performance, and potential for cost-effective separation were successfully assessed with HPAM polymers for a concentration up to 800 ppm. In order to evaluate the performance of the flotation technology, a comprehensive test matrix for a widespread operating envelope was defined. Characteristics of the feed water were varied by selecting specific production wells from the Torton reservoir. Consequently, a wide range of retention times, oil-in-water contents, oil droplet size distributions, and EOR polymer concentrations were tested. The unit was operated with and without the application of a water clarifier. Performance was evaluated by measuring inlet and outlet water quality parameters via laboratory analyses and an in-line monitoring device. The impact of EOR polymer on the treatment efficiency clearly indicated a turning-point of treatment efficiency dependent on polymer concentration. Produced water conditions of polymer flooding operations are considered harsh due to the impact on oil droplet coalescing behavior and impacted viscosity. The influence of oil droplet size and shearing of polymer versus the impact of retention time on effectiveness was assessed. On-site core-flood tests were performed to evaluate the injection behavior of treated water with different HPAM polymer concentrations and in combination with and without a water clarifier.

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Treatment of Produced Polymer-Containing Water with a Water Treatment Pilot Unit in the Matzen Field, Austria

Cited by 13 publications

References 4 publications

Emulsion separation

Emulsion separation

Microemulsion Formation & Its Effect on Rheology Using Carbonate-Based Alkalis for AP or ASP Floods in the Matzen Field

Field Tests with a Multi Chamber Flotation Technology: Advanced Water Treatment in EOR Polymer Operation

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