Title: Experimental and simulation study on aqueous protein to improve oil recovery

Authors: Jeffrey Randy Gbonhinbor; Mike Obi Onyekonwu

Addresses: Department of Petroleum and Gas Engineering, University of Port-Harcourt, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria ' Department of Petroleum and Gas Engineering, University of Port-Harcourt, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract: This research paper investigates the potential of aqueous protein in IOR operations. It entails core flooding experiments, rheology analysis, and 1D simulation study. The protein source used in this research is the common field beans also known as Phaseolus vulgaris Linn. In performing the core flooding experiment, six different core samples were used and oil recovery efficiencies presented. The concentration of the aqueous beans was varied to ascertain the optimum concentration with the highest oil recovery. A 1D simulation study was also conducted for all core samples flooded with only aqueous beans. With aqueous bean modelled as a power law fluid, the fractional flow of wetting-phase fluid and recovery efficiencies were calculated using the modified Buckley-Leverett approach. All simulated results were compared with the experimental data. The comparison shows that shear thinning behaviour of aqueous beans are pertinent in enhancing oil recovery.

Keywords: aqueous beans; oil recovery; rheology analysis; simulation; petroleum engineering; aqueous protein; core flooding; Phaseolus vulgaris Linn; modelling; power law fluids; Buckley-Leverett approach; shear thinning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPE.2015.073536

International Journal of Petroleum Engineering, 2015 Vol.1 No.4, pp.271 - 289

Received: 11 Oct 2014
Accepted: 05 Aug 2015

Published online: 11 Dec 2015 *

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