A study of melamine-based mobility control of condensed water during steam flooding process

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to propose a novel method of mobility control of condensed water by melamine during steam flooding process. Melamine is working as water permeability modifier in a non-foaming manner to control mobility of condensed water, supported by the theoretic analysis. Wettability alternatation, water residual resistance factor, and oil displacement efficiecy by melamine addition were investigated in the experiments. The contact angle was decreased by 3.6° at 200 °C indicating that the core tends to be more water wet upon addition of melamine. Water residual resistance factor, approximately representing water/oil mobility ratio, increased in response to the temperature elevation and increased pore volume during melamine injection. Water residual resistance factor reached close to 1 after subsequent hot water flood, which indicated that the reduced water permeability by melamine precipitation could be restored. The oil recovery by saturated melamine injection was increasd by 11.7% when temperature dropped from 200 to 160 °C, in comparison with pure water flooding under the same condition. The results verify the feasibility of melamine to enhance oil recovery by controlling mobility of condensed water in a steam flooding process.