TY - GEN
T1 - Experimental investigation of biopolymer rheology and injectivity incarbonates
AU - Elhossary, Deena Abdalla
AU - Alameri, Waleed
AU - Al-Shalabi, Emad W.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge Khalifa University for funding this research and Cargill for providing us with samples of EOR grade Scleroglucan for the studies performed. This publication is based upon work supported by Khalifa University under Award No. [FSU-2018-22].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Offshore Technology Conference.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Polymer flooding is a mature chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) technology with over forty yearsof laboratory-A nd field-scale applications. Nevertheless, polymers exhibit poor performance in carbonatesdue to their complex nature of mixed-to-oil wettability, high temperature, high salinity, and heterogeneitywith low permeability. The main objective of this study is to experimentally evaluate the performanceof a biopolymer (Scleroglucan) in carbonates under harsh conditions of temperature and salinity. Thisexperimental investigation includes polymer rheological studies as well as polymer injectivity tests.Rheological studies were performed on the biopolymer samples to measure the polymer viscosity as afunction of concentration, shear rate, salinity, and temperature. Injectivity characteristics of this biopolymerwere also examined through corefloods using high permeability carbonate outcrops. The injectivity testsconsisted of two stages of water pre-flush and polymer injection. These tests were conducted usinghigh salinity formation water (167,000 ppm) and seawater (43,000 ppm) at both room (25 °C) and hightemperature (90 °C) conditions. The rheological tests showed that the biopolymer has a high viscosifying power and it exhibits a shear-thinning behavior that is more prevalent at higher polymer concentrations. Also, a pronounced effect wasobserved for water salinity on both polymer filterability and polymer injectivity. The biopolymer exhibitedbetter filterability at the high temperature as opposed to the room temperature. From the injectivity tests,the shear-thinning behavior of this biopolymer in the porous media was confirmed as the resistance factordecreased with increasing the flow rate applied. The potential biopolymer showed good injectivity atboth the room and the high temperatures. This study provides further insight into the performance of thisbiopolymer in carbonate reservoirs and encourages further application under harsh conditions of salinityand temperature.
AB - Polymer flooding is a mature chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) technology with over forty yearsof laboratory-A nd field-scale applications. Nevertheless, polymers exhibit poor performance in carbonatesdue to their complex nature of mixed-to-oil wettability, high temperature, high salinity, and heterogeneitywith low permeability. The main objective of this study is to experimentally evaluate the performanceof a biopolymer (Scleroglucan) in carbonates under harsh conditions of temperature and salinity. Thisexperimental investigation includes polymer rheological studies as well as polymer injectivity tests.Rheological studies were performed on the biopolymer samples to measure the polymer viscosity as afunction of concentration, shear rate, salinity, and temperature. Injectivity characteristics of this biopolymerwere also examined through corefloods using high permeability carbonate outcrops. The injectivity testsconsisted of two stages of water pre-flush and polymer injection. These tests were conducted usinghigh salinity formation water (167,000 ppm) and seawater (43,000 ppm) at both room (25 °C) and hightemperature (90 °C) conditions. The rheological tests showed that the biopolymer has a high viscosifying power and it exhibits a shear-thinning behavior that is more prevalent at higher polymer concentrations. Also, a pronounced effect wasobserved for water salinity on both polymer filterability and polymer injectivity. The biopolymer exhibitedbetter filterability at the high temperature as opposed to the room temperature. From the injectivity tests,the shear-thinning behavior of this biopolymer in the porous media was confirmed as the resistance factordecreased with increasing the flow rate applied. The potential biopolymer showed good injectivity atboth the room and the high temperatures. This study provides further insight into the performance of thisbiopolymer in carbonate reservoirs and encourages further application under harsh conditions of salinityand temperature.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086263750&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85086263750
T3 - Proceedings of the Annual Offshore Technology Conference
BT - Offshore Technology Conference 2020, OTC 2020
T2 - Offshore Technology Conference 2020, OTC 2020
Y2 - 4 May 2020 through 7 May 2020
ER -