Title: Seepage flow characteristics and ability for enhanced oil recovery based on ultra high molecular weight partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide

Authors: Peng Zhang; Yefei Wang; Shufeng Guo; Binlin Pan; Wenzhang Huang; Zhenfu Jia; Chengyu Zhou; Maolei Guo; Haiyang Yu

Addresses: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, No. 20, East Daxuecheng Road, Shapingba District, 401331, Chongqing Municipality, China ' School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, Shandong 266555, China ' Geological and Scientific Research Institute, SINOPEC Shengli Oilfield Company, Dongying, Shangdong 257000, China ' Geological and Scientific Research Institute, SINOPEC Shengli Oilfield Company, Dongying, Shangdong 257000, China ' School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China ' School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China ' School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China ' Institute of Shanxi Yanchang Petroleum (Group) Co. Ltd., Xi'an, Shanxi 710075, China ' Hekou Oil Production Plant, SINOPEC Shengli Oilfield Company, Dongying, Shangdong 257067, China

Abstract: The ultra high molecular weight partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide (UHMW-HPAM) has captured much attention because of its good thickening property and rheological behaviour. In this paper, the seepage property, dynamic retention capacity and effective viscosity of UHMW-HPAM are studied and compared with traditional partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide (HPAM). The results indicate that the UHMW-HPAM can build stronger flow resistance in porous medium than HAPM, but the effective viscosities of UHMW-HPAM and HPAM have few discrepancies. It is because the retention capacity of UHMW-HPAM is generally higher than that of HPAM under the same conditions. The result also confirms that the molecular weight has no significant influence on effective viscosity. The abilities to improve oil recovery of chemical flooding based on UHMW-HPAM and HPAM were also investigated. When the permeability ratio is approximately 5.0, the ability of alkaline-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding based on UHMW-HPAM to increase oil recovery is far better than that of ASP system based on ordinary HPAM. [Received March 5, 2015; Accepted November 23, 2015]

Keywords: ultra high molecular weight; UHMW; partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide; HPAM; UHMW-HPAM; porous medium; enhanced oil recovery; EOR; polymer flooding; seepage flow; retention capacity; viscosity; permeability ratio.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2017.082045

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2017 Vol.14 No.3, pp.216 - 231

Received: 20 Mar 2015
Accepted: 23 Nov 2015
Published online: 06 Feb 2017 *

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