Adhesion between silica glass or acrylic balls and silicone elastomers and various industrial rubbers is investigated. The work of adhesion during pull-off is found to strongly vary depending on the system, which we attribute to the two opposite effects: (1) viscoelastic energy dissipation close to an opening crack tip and (2) surface roughness. Introducing surface roughness on the glass ball is found to increase the work of adhesion for soft elastomers, while for the stiffer elastomers it results in a strong reduction in the work of adhesion. For the soft silicone elastomers a strong increase in the work of adhesion with increasing pull-off velocity is observed, which may result from the non-adiabatic processes associated with molecular chain pull-out. In general, the work of adhesion is decreased after repeated contacts due to the transfer of molecules from the elastomers to the glass ball. Thus, extracting the free chains (oligomers) from the silicone elastomers is shown to make the work of adhesion independent of the number of contacts. The viscoelastic properties (linear and nonlinear) of all of the rubber compounds are measured, and the velocity dependent crack opening propagation energy at the interface is calculated. Silicone elastomers show a good agreement between the measured work of adhesion and the predicted results, but carbon black filled hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber compounds reveal that strain softening at the crack tip may play an important role in determining the work of adhesion. Additionally, adhesion measurement under submerged conditions in distilled water and water + soap solutions are also performed: a strong reduction in the work of adhesion is measured for the silicone elastomers submerged in water, and a complete elimination of adhesion is found for the water + soap solution attributed to an osmotic repulsion between the negatively charged surface of the glass and the elastomer.

We study the adhesion, friction and leak rate of seals for four different elastomers: Acrylonitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR), Ethylene Propylene Diene (EPDM), Polyepichlorohydrin (GECO) and Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Adhesion between smooth clean glass balls and all the elastomers is studied both in the dry state and in water. In water, adhesion is observed for the NBR and PDMS elastomers, but not for the EPDM and GECO elastomers, which we attribute to the differences in surface energy and dewetting. The leakage of water is studied with rubber square-ring seals squeezed against sandblasted glass surfaces. Here we observe a strongly non-linear dependence of the leak rate on the water pressure ΔP for the elastomers exhibiting adhesion in water, while the leak rate depends nearly linearly on ΔP for the other elastomers. We attribute the non-linearity to some adhesion-related phenomena, such as dewetting or the (time-dependent) formation of gas bubbles, which blocks fluid flow channels. Finally, rubber friction is studied at low sliding speeds using smooth glass and sandblasted glass as substrates, both in the dry state and in water. The measured friction coefficients are compared to theory, and the origin of the frictional shear stress acting in the area of real contact is discussed. The NBR rubber, which exhibits the strongest adhesion both in the dry state and in water, also shows the highest friction both in the dry state and in water.

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The injection of chemicals into sandstones can lead to alterations in wettability, where oil characteristics such as the TAN (total acid number) may determine the wetting state of the reservoir. By combining the spontaneous imbibition principle and the evaluation of interfacial tension index, we propose a workflow and comprehensive assessment to evaluate the wettability alteration and interfacial tension (IFT) when injecting chemical-enhanced oil-recovery (EOR) agents. This study examines the effects on wettability alteration due to the application of alkaline and polymer solutions (separately) and the combined alkali–polymer solution. The evaluation focused on comparing the effects of chemical agent injections on wettability and IFT due to core aging (non-aged, water-wet and aged, and neutral to oil-wet), brine composition (mono vs. divalent ions); core mineralogy (~2.5% and ~10% clay), and crude oil type (low and high TAN). Amott experiments were performed on cleaned water-wet core plugs as well as on samples with a restored oil-wet state. IFT experiments were compared for a duration of 300 min. Data were gathered from 48 Amott imbibition experiments with duplicates. The IFT and baselines were defined in each case for brine, polymer, and alkali for each set of experiments. When focusing on the TAN and aging effects, it was observed that in all cases, the early time production was slower and the final oil recovery was longer when compared to the values for non-aged core plugs. These data confirm the change in rock surface wettability towards a more oil-wet state after aging and reverse the wettability alteration due to chemical injections. Furthermore, the application of alkali with high TAN oil resulted in a low equilibrium IFT. By contrast, alkali alone failed to mobilize trapped low TAN oil but caused wettability alteration and a neutral–wet state of the aged core plugs. For the brine composition, the presence of divalent ions promoted water-wetness of the non-aged core plugs and oil-wetness of the aged core plugs. Divalent ions act as bridges between the mineral surface and polar compound of the in situ created surfactant, thereby accelerating wettability alteration. Finally, for mineralogy effects, the high clay content core plugs were shown to be more oil-wet even without aging. Following aging, a strongly oil-wet behavior was exhibited. The alkali–polymer is demonstrated to be efficient in the wettability alteration of oil-wet core plugs towards a water-wet state.

Polymer flooding most commonly uses partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides (HPAM) injected to increase the declining oil production from mature fields. Apart from the improved mobility ratio, also the viscoelasticity-associated flow effects yield additional oil recovery. Viscoelasticity is defined as the ability of particular polymer solutions to behave as a solid and liquid simultaneously if certain flow conditions, e.g., shear rates, are present. The viscoelasticity related flow phenomena as well as their recovery mechanisms are not fully understood and, hence, require additional and more advanced research. Whereas literature reasonably agreed on the presence of these viscoelastic flow effects in porous media, there is a significant lack and discord regarding the viscoelasticity effects in oil recovery. This work combines the information encountered in the literature, private reports and field applications. Self-gathered laboratory data is used in this work to support or refuse observations. An extensive review is generated by combining experimental observations and field applications with critical insights of the authors. The focus of the work is to understand and clarify the claims associated with polymer viscoelasticity in oil recovery by improvement of sweep efficiency, oil ganglia mobilization by flow instabilities, among others.

Oil recovery using Smart Water technology (SWF) can be maximized by optimizing the composition of injected water. Brine optimization is also believed to improve Polymer Flooding (PF) performance. The present study aims to assess and define the potential impact of combining Smart Water with Polymer Flooding, based on the sulphates presence in formation/injection water and rock composition. In this work, we study the impact of sulphates (sodium sulphates) on polymer viscoelasticity and its performance in porous media, based on oil recovery and pressure response. Brine composition is optimized after having synthetic sea water (SSW) as a base brine. Brine optimization is performed by doubling the amount of sulphates, whilst diluting (in fresh water) the SSW-brine to a tenth of its initial concentration. Thus, four brines were utilized: 1) SSW (formation water), 2) SSW but double sulphates, 3) SSW/10 and 4) Brine 2/10. The workflow included core plugs aging prior core flooding. Secondary tertiary and quaternary mode experiments were performed to evaluate the feasibility of applying both processes. The SSW-brine optimization (a tenth of its initial concentration) resulted in a salinity of 4.2 g/L which is in good agreement with previous studies (≤5 g/L), to guarantee additional oil recovery using SWF. Polymer rheological characterization was performed over wide range of shear rates and temperatures. Sodium sulphates showed increase in polymer viscosity as compare to sodium chloride or divalent cations. Enhancement in polymer linear viscoelasticity is observed with an increase in sulphate ions concentration. Furthermore, viscosity analysis over temperature has advocated to perform the core flood experiments at 45°C. Fluids were optimized/selected using a comprehensive rheological evaluation (ηoilηpolymer=2). Optimized Smart Water with higher amount of sulphates ions has shown additional oil recovery in both secondary and tertiary mode. Moreover, polymer injection in tertiary mode after smart water injection has shown significant additional oil recovery. This study focuses on the influence of sulphates ions on SWF and PF performance for application in sandstone reservoirs. Previous studies have mainly focused the evaluation of sulphates ions impact only in carbonate reservoirs. It is of importance to further understand/clarify the effect of sulphates for field applications of SWF and PF combined. This in turn, could lead to improve the economics of project performance, by means of incremental oil and the less polymer required.

Design of Smart-Water can be economically attractive owing the presence of excessive water resources (seawater). This paper aims to design Smart-Water in order to analyze its impact on remaining oil saturation reduction and hence improved oil recovery. Moreover, this study evaluates and define the synergies and benefits between high salt smart water and polymer flooding. The paper combines an extensive rheological characterization and core-flooding experiments; performing fluid optimization (change in brine composition and polymer concentration). Synthetic seawater (SSW) is used as the base brine. Optimization is perform by adding/removing specific chemical components in the SSW. Overall, five brines are utilized: 1) SSW, 2) 2*SSW, 3) SSW with double sulphates 3) SSW with quadruple sulphates and 5) SSW without NaCl. Brine 1 and 2 are used as the formation brines, whereas brine 3 to 5 are used as the injection brines to analyze impact of SO4-2 and Na+1 on remaining oil saturation reduction. Secondary and tertiary-mode experiments are performed to evaluate the feasibility of applying Smart-Water injection and its synergies with polymer flood. Smart water with spiked sulphates changed the interfacial tension compare to synthetic seawater. Henceforth smart water injection has contributed to extra oil recovery, resulting on a reduction of the remaining oil saturation due to the improved interfacial rheology and slightly higher IFT. Optimized Smart Water with spiked amount of sulphate has produced the highest oil recovery in secondary mode compared to other brines (in case of both formation brines). Furthermore, higher concentration of the divalent cations in formation brine and spiked amount of Na+1 in injected brine has resulted the significant decrease in remaining oil saturation (2*SSW as formation brine). Combination of smart water and polymer flood has shown significant reduction in remaining oil saturation. Polymer injection after smart water with spiked sulphates has contributed to significant extra oil recovery compare to the other brines owing to the combined effect of improved interfacial rheology and enhanced polymer viscoelasticity.