Enhanced oil recovery by using polymer flooding with shear-thinning property and in-situ chemical reaction

• Main Authors: Sin, Sotheavuth, Wang, Weicen, She, Yun, Patmonoaji, Anindityo, Suekane, Tetsuya
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical reactions; Enhanced oil recovery; Fluid injection; Image processing; Microtomography; Petroleum production; Polymer flooding; Polymers; Porous media; Shear; Shear thinning (liquids); Viscosity
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0188875

One of the largest issues in our society is the energy crisis. Although we are shifting to renewable energy, petroleum is still going to be our main energy source in the decades to come. Moreover, global oil demand is expected to rise in the next decades. One of the promising enhanced oil recovery schemes is polymer flooding. A polymer solution can be hundreds of times more viscous than water, and its shear-thinning property could also improve viscosity as the fluid travels further from the injection well. To compensate for the high-pressure burden for the fluid injection, an in-situ chemical reaction can also be incorporated. In this work, polymer flooding experiments were performed in porous media generated from granular packing. Micro-tomography and image processing techniques were used to monitor and assess the fluid in the porous media. Three experiments with different fluid systems were performed under two different flow rates to investigate the effects of polymer flooding, shear-thinning properties, and in-situ chemical reaction of viscosity improvement. We found that polymer flooding improved oil production significantly than water flooding. Due to its shear-thinning property, oil production improved with lower injection velocity. In addition, the in -situ chemical reaction was also found to improve the oil production although only slightly.