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Improved waterflooding through mobility control
Author(s) -
Mungan N.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450490107
Subject(s) - polymer , viscosity , rheology , adsorption , porous medium , petroleum , enhanced oil recovery , chemical engineering , slug flow , permeability (electromagnetism) , slug , volumetric flow rate , materials science , porosity , petroleum engineering , chemistry , flow (mathematics) , thermodynamics , two phase flow , geology , organic chemistry , composite material , membrane , mechanics , engineering , paleontology , biochemistry , physics
Increasing the viscosity of injected water for more efficient oil recovery has been of interest to the petroleum industry since 1900. In recent years, certain high molecular weight water soluble organic polymers have been developed which, in small concentrations, can increase the viscosity of water substantially and, under certain conditions, recover additional oil economically. The rheological properties, adsorption, transport characteristics, and oil recovery efficiency of several polymer solutions are presented. The viscosity of the polymer solutions depends largely on the flow rate, the type of polymer, and the solvent. Oil recovery depends primarily on the permeability distribution of the porous model. Adsorption varied from 30 to 225 μg/g. Because the process utilizes a polymer solution slug of small volume, the stability of the slug was considered. Following a polymer slug with water led to viscous instabilities and slug breakdown. If the polymer concentration in the slug was reduced to zero asymptotically before injecting water, the viscous instabilities were eliminated.