A systematic numerical modeling study of various polymer injection conditions on immiscible and miscible viscous fingering and oil recovery in a five-spot setup

Chaudhuri, Abhijit; Vishnudas, R.

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2018.05.115

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…According to their method, the mixing parameter was set to one, which meant that the polymer and water were ideally mixed, and the effective polymer viscosity and the effective water viscosity were equal. The polymer adsorption is considered a Langmuir adsorption isotherm [37,38]:cap=capmaxbpcp1+bpcp where cap is the adsorbed concentration of polymer in kg/kg, capmax is the maximum adsorbed concentration of polymer in kg/kg, bp is the adsorption coefficient, and cp is the polymer concentrations in kg/m 3 . The permeability reduction factor of the water phase Rk follows [39]:Rk=1+(RRF−1)capcapmax where RRF is the residual resistance factor, defined as the ratio between the water permeability measured before and after the polymer flooding.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Polymer Degradation on Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

Xin

Chen

et al. 2018

Polymers

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Polymer degradation is critical for polymer flooding because it can significantly influence the viscosity of a polymer solution, which is a dominant property for polymer enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In this work, physical experiments and numerical simulations were both used to study partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) degradation and its effect on polymer flooding in heterogeneous reservoirs. First, physical experiments were conducted to determine basic physicochemical properties of the polymer, including viscosity and degradation. Notably, a novel polymer dynamic degradation experiment was recommended in the evaluation process. Then, a new mathematical model was proposed and an in-house three-dimensional (3D) two-phase polymer flooding simulator was designed to examine both polymer static and dynamic degradation. The designed simulator was validated by comparison with the simulation results obtained from commercial software and the results from the polymer flooding experiments. This simulator further investigated and validated polymer degradation and its effect. The results of the physical experiments showed that the viscosity of a polymer solution increases with an increase in polymer concentration, demonstrating their underlying power law relationship. Moreover, the viscosity of a polymer solution with the same polymer concentration decreases with an increase in the shear rate, demonstrating shear thinning. Furthermore, the viscosity of a polymer solution decreased with an increase in time due to polymer degradation, exhibiting an exponential relationship. The first-order dynamic degradation rate constant of 0.0022 day−1 was greater than the first-order static degradation rate constant of 0.0017 day−1. According to the simulation results for the designed simulator, a 7.7% decrease in oil recovery, after a cumulative injection volume of 1.67 pore volume (PV) was observed between the first-order dynamic degradation rate constants of 0 and 0.1 day−1, which indicates that polymer degradation has a detrimental effect on polymer flooding efficiency.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Polymer Degradation on Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

Xin

Chen

et al. 2018

Polymers

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“…During the flow of polymer solution through the rock, some polymer molecules will inevitably be adsorbed on the inner surfaces of pores in the rock [43]. Here, the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model was applied to treat polymer adsorption [44,45]: cap=capmaxbpcp1+bpcp where cap is the adsorbed concentration of polymer in kg/kg, capmax is the maximum adsorbed concentration of polymer in kg/kg, and bp is the adsorption coefficient.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Non-Newtonian Flow on Polymer Flooding in Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Xin

Chen

et al. 2018

Polymers

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The flow of polymer solution and heavy oil in porous media is critical for polymer flooding in heavy oil reservoirs because it significantly determines the polymer enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and polymer flooding efficiency in heavy oil reservoirs. In this paper, physical experiments and numerical simulations were both applied to investigate the flow of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) solution and heavy oil, and their effects on polymer flooding in heavy oil reservoirs. First, physical experiments determined the rheology of the polymer solution and heavy oil and their flow in porous media. Then, a new mathematical model was proposed, and an in-house three-dimensional (3D) two-phase polymer flooding simulator was designed considering the non-Newtonian flow. The designed simulator was validated by comparing its results with those obtained from commercial software and typical polymer flooding experiments. The developed simulator was further applied to investigate the non-Newtonian flow in polymer flooding. The experimental results demonstrated that the flow behavior index of the polymer solution is 0.3655, showing a shear thinning; and heavy oil is a type of Bingham fluid that overcomes a threshold pressure gradient (TPG) to flow in porous media. Furthermore, the validation of the designed simulator was confirmed to possess high accuracy and reliability. According to its simulation results, the decreases of 1.66% and 2.49% in oil recovery are caused by the difference between 0.18 and 1 in the polymer solution flow behavior indexes of the pure polymer flooding (PPF) and typical polymer flooding (TPF), respectively. Moreover, for heavy oil, considering a TPG of 20 times greater than its original value, the oil recoveries of PPF and TPF are reduced by 0.01% and 5.77%, respectively. Furthermore, the combined effect of shear thinning and a threshold pressure gradient results in a greater decrease in oil recovery, with 1.74% and 8.35% for PPF and TPF, respectively. Thus, the non-Newtonian flow has a hugely adverse impact on the performance of polymer flooding in heavy oil reservoirs.

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“…In this configuration, one injection well is in the center and four production wells at the corners of the square (Fig. 1) [18]. This is a standard configuration frequently used in oil recovery.…”

Section: Physical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Study of Viscous Fingering in Heterogeneous Porous Media

2022

IJM

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The displacement of a fluid by a second immiscible fluid is a fundamental process which is relevant for many technological applications, particularly in the petroleum industry. Water is the fluid widely used to push oil to production wells. During this immiscible displacement, a viscous fingering instability appears at the water-oil interface. This undesirable phenomenon leads to a low oil sweeping efficiency. To prevent this situation, techniques called EOR (Enhance Oil Recovery) are used. These methods have technical, economic and environmental disadvantages. Therefore, the objective of this work is to seek a rational use of EOR techniques by determining the right place and the appropriate time to operate them. In many previous studies, the effects of viscosity ratio, interfacial tension and flow rate are investigated. In this study, we numerically investigate the effect of the heterogeneity of the medium and the presence of the fracture on this phenomenon. Three different configurations are studied. The obtained results allowed to locate the regions where the behaviour of the instability varies during displacement in the porous medium, regions where instability is increasing and others where it remains constant. a qualitative comparison between the different cases is also made.

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A systematic numerical modeling study of various polymer injection conditions on immiscible and miscible viscous fingering and oil recovery in a five-spot setup

Cited by 22 publications

References 24 publications

Effect of Polymer Degradation on Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

Effect of Polymer Degradation on Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Reservoirs

Effect of Non-Newtonian Flow on Polymer Flooding in Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Numerical Study of Viscous Fingering in Heterogeneous Porous Media

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