Numerical simulation of the blocking process of gelled particles in porous media with remaining polymers

Abstract

Gelled particles can be transferred deeply inside oil reservoirs to block water channels due to their physicochemical characteristics, including swelling, deformation, and synergetic effect (reacting with polymers), and then the injection profi les are signifi cantly modifi ed. At present, research on gelled particles is mainly focused on laboratory studies of drive mechanisms, and rarely on mathematical models describing the blocking process of gelled particles. In this paper, the blocking process of gelled particles is divided into two sub-processes: deposition and desorption due to particle deformation. A mathematical model based on fi ltration theory is proposed considering the effect of characteristics of gelled particles on the blocking process. Blocking laws were simulated and researched using the mathematical model. Results of the simulation of the blocking of gelled particles are quite consistent with the experimental results, which confi rms the reliability of the mathematical model developed.

RETRACTED: Hybrid Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques: A Simulation Study

“…Desorption of gelled particles in the porous media has occurred regarding the gelled deformation in the higher-pressure gradients rather than the pressure gradient of breakthrough time. Feng et al (2009) derived an analytical equation to define the kinematic performances of gelled particles desorption and deformation at any points as Equation (7).…”

“…where P Gmax is the gelled particles pressure gradient at the breakthrough time (Feng et al 2009). However, according to the previous investigations about the considerable influence of different types of oil on the interfacial tension parameter, Mehrabian s. et al (2017) proposed that different oils have different interfacial tension and subsequently, due to the similar relationship between capillary pressure and interfacial tension, higher interfacial tension has higher capillary pressure.…”

“…Next, the surfactant is injected to displace the remained oil to increase displacement efficiency. Within the interaction of surfactant and PPG, some of the characteristics of both phases have been changed, such as the dynamic feature of PPG [28][29][30][31][32][33][34].…”

“…Gel particles due to their deformation, swelling, and physicochemical properties can mobilize through the porous media and its pore throats even in long distances to block the high permeable channels that are occupied by water. Feng et al (2009) proposed a filtration model to describe the interaction between the remaining polymers and PPG in the desorption and deposition processes. They simulated the blocking pathways in the presence of gel particles, and the proposed model has a good agreement with the experimental field data to enhance oil recovery [35].…”

Factors influencing the aggregation behavior of residual associative polymer in produced oily fluids

“…In recent years, polymer flooding has been widely used in major oil fields of China, such as Daqing and Shengli Oilfields (Gao et al 2011;Shi et al 2010Shi et al , 2012Feng et al 2009;. One of the most widely used water-soluble polymers is partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), which controls mobility in reservoirs by increasing the viscosity of the injected water, and more importantly, by reducing the permeability of the formation (Lu et al 2012;Ren et al 2006;Guo et al 2014;Lin et al 2011).…”