Optimized Surfactant IFT and Polymer Viscosity for Surfactant-Polymer Flooding in Heterogeneous Formations

Wang, Yefei; Zhao, Fulin; Bai, Baojun; Zhang, Jian; Xiang, Wentao; Li, Xianjie; Zhou, Wei

doi:10.2118/127391-ms

Cited by 57 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The mobility control should be given priority rather than lowering IFT. This conclusion was in agreement with literatures (Hou, 2004;Lu et al, 2006) It should be noted that both these two literatures Wang et al, 2010) used three layer heterogeneous compacted cementation slabs also known as artificial cores in chemical flooding tests, however, viscosity of ASP or SP in these two tests were apparent viscosity rather than effective viscosity in porous media. The relative permeability change due to capillary number increase, as indicated in literature (Kalaydijan, 1992), and the capillary number difference caused displacement difference and viscous fingerings (Pavone, 1992), may account for the CDC difference.…”

Section: New Cdc Curvesupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Strongly water-wet 10 -5 Strongly oil-wet 10 -4 Intermediate 10 -4 to 10 -5 Mixed bimodal, 10 -5 /10 -6 Entrapment Strongly water-wet 10 -5 Baker Dolomlte Water-wet 10 -5 Caddo Limesione(Vugular) Mobilization Water-wet 10 -6 to 10 -7 Entrapment Water-wet 10 -6 to 10 -7 Classic CDC was based on Newton fluid, while non-Newton fluild like polymer fluid was adopted in test recently (Wenxiang et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2010). Literature (Wenxiang et al, 2007) reported viscoelasticity affected CDC with artificial core models and ASP solution.…”

Section: Sandstone Mobilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chatzis, Kuntamukkula, & Morrow, 1988;Garnes & Mathisen, 1990;Tang, 1992;Johannesen & Graue, 2007;Johannesen, Graue, & Bergen, 2007;Chukwudeme et al, 2011;. In enhanced oil recovery like chemical flooding (Spildo, Skauge, Aarra, & Tweheyo, 2009;Wang et al, 2010;Khosravi & Univ, 2010; CDC has various applications in not only water flooding but also chemical flooding (Wenxiang et al, 2007;Simjoo, et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2010;Tavassoli, Pope, & Sepehrnoori, 2014) and microbial flooding (Crescente et al, 2008), capillary number was frequently referred in explaining the mechanisms (Garnes & Mathisen, 1990;Khosravi & Univ, 2010;Simjoo, Dong et al, 2011;Sharma, Inwood, & Kovscek, 2011). Recently, capillary number has notable application in the study of imbibition front transition (Aminzadeh & DiCarlo, 2009), and modeling wettability alteration by surfactants (Delshad, Fathi Najafabadi, Anderson, Pope, & Sepehrnoori, 2009), numerical simulation (Bashiri & Kasiri, 2011;Patacchini, De Loubens, & Moncorge, 2012;Kuo & Benson, 2013;Tavassoli, Pope, & Sepehrnoori, 2014;Andrew et al, 2014) Typical classical CDC showed that larger capillary number lead to lower residual oil saturation and when capillary number increased to some certain critical value(first critical value), the residual oil saturation could drop to a minimum value even zero.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Review of Capillary Number in Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery

Guo

Ma²,

Wang

et al. 2015

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After decades of development, great progress has been made in capillary number theory and it has important but often incorrect application in EOR. Investigation into progress on capillary number theory and some misuse of capillary number theory helps to make better use of it. Latest progress concerning with capillary number theory and its application in chemical EOR is reviewed by studying the experiments data and checking its model hypothesis. Classic Capillary Desaturation Curves (CDC) are summarized and new CDC is introduced. Typical classical CDC showed larger capillary number lead to lower residual oil saturation and when capillary number increased to a certain critical value(first critical value), the residual oil saturation could drop to a minimum value even zero. CDC shapes were different in water-wet and oil-wet media. Recovery can be improved by increasing flooding rate, though invalid and impractical, displacement phase viscosity or/and reducing oil/water interfacial tension, which are actually adopted by chemical flooding. Guided by this theory and also first critical capillary number value requirement, it lead to the pursuit of low interfacial tension to largest extent and the requirement of ultra-low interfacial tension (10 -3 mN/m) in surfactant screening. However, experiments data showed that residual oil saturation was not always decreasing as capillary number increased. After capillary number increased to a certain value (second critical value), the residual oil saturation may increase or decrease as capillary number increase. What was more, the final residual oil saturation was quite more than zero and this CDC was regarded as the new CDC. Experiments in heavy oil laboratory tests showed that smaller injection rate lead to higher recovery which seemed contrary to capillary theory.

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Section: New Cdc Curvesupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Sandstone Mobilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Review of Capillary Number in Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery

Guo

Ma²,

Wang

et al. 2015

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“…The surfactant formulation used in adsorption and oil-recovery experiments is similar to formulations described by other research-ers (Levitt et al 2006;Liu et al 2008;Zhao et al 2008). A blend of A7PS as the major component with a minor amount of a C15-18 IOS gives a blend with high activity and high tolerance to divalent cations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ammonia as Alkali for Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Floods

et al. 2015

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Ammonia is logistically preferred over sodium carbonate for alkaline/surfactant/polymer (ASP) enhanced-oil-recovery projects because of its low molar mass and the possibility for it to be delivered as a liquid. On an offshore platform, space and weight savings can be the determining factor in deciding whether an ASP project is feasible. Logistics may also be critical in determining the economic feasibility of projects in remote locations.Ammonia as alkali together with a surfactant blend of alkyl propoxy sulfate/internal olefin sulfonate (APS/IOS) functions as an effective alkali. Surfactant adsorption is low, and oil recovery in corefloods is high. Static adsorption tests show that low surfactant adsorption is attained at pH >9, a condition that ammonia satisfies at low solution concentration.It is expected that ammonia has a performance deficiency relative to sodium carbonate in that it does not precipitate calcium from solution. Calcium accumulation in the ammonia ASP solution will occur, caused by ion exchange from clays. The high oil recovery for ammonia and the calcium accumulation in ASP and surfactant/polymer corefloods with APS/IOS blends show that this surfactant system is effective and calcium-tolerant. Also, phase behavior and interfacial-tension (IFT) measurements suggest that APS/IOS blends remain effective in the presence of calcium. Ethylene oxide/propylene oxide sulfates (such as the used APS) are known commercially available, calcium-tolerant surfactants. However, because of hydrolysis, sulfate-type surfactants are suitable for use only in lower-temperature reservoirs.Very different behavior was noticed for phase-behavior measurements with calcium-intolerant surfactants such as alkyl benzene sulfonates and IOS. In this case, calcium addition results in a very high IFT and complete separation of oil and brine. Presumably, this will result in low oil recovery. A preferred approach for ASP offshore with divalent-ion-intolerant surfactants may be the use of a hybrid alkali system combining the attributes of sodium carbonate and ammonia. The concept is to supply the bulk of the alkalinity for an ASP flood by ammonia with all the inherent logistical advantages. A minor quantity of sodium carbonate is added to the formulation to specifically precipitate calcium ions.

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“…However, this cEOR technique was mostly carried out in sandstone reservoirs for producing medium and light oils (Wang et al 2010). From the review of Alvarado and Manrique 2010, it was seen that out of the 1507 international EOR projects; most applications were in sandstone reservoirs.…”

Section: Alkali-surfactant Floodingmentioning

confidence: 99%