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Micellar-polymer for enhanced oil recovery for Upper Assam Basin

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One of the major enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes is chemical flooding especially for the depleted reservoirs. Chemical flooding involves injection of various chemicals like surfactant, alkali, polymer etc. to the aqueous media. Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya are two depleted reservoirs of upper Assam basin where chemical flooding can be done to recover the trapped oil that cannot be recovered by conventional flooding process. Micellar-polymer (MP) flooding involves injection of micelle and polymer to the aqueous phase to reduce interfacial tension and polymer is added to control the mobility of the solution, which helps in increasing both displacement and volumetric sweep efficiency and thereby leads to enhanced oil recovery. This work represents the use of black liquor as micelle or surfactant that is a waste product of Nowgong Paper Mills, Jagiroad, Assam, which is more efficient than the synthetic surfactants. The present study examines the effect of MP flooding through the porous media of two depleted oil fields of upper Assam basin i.e. Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya for MP EOR. This work also compares the present MP flood with the earlier work done on surfactant (S) flooding. It was experimentally determined that the MP flood is more efficient EOR process for Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya reservoirs. The study will pertain to the comprehensive interfacial tension (IFT) study and the displacement mechanism in conventional core samples.
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Research paper
Micellar-polymer for enhanced oil recovery for Upper Assam Basin
B.M. Das a,b,*, S.B. Gogoi a,b, D. Mech c
aSchool of Earth, Atmospheric Science, Environment & Energy, India
bDepartment of Petroleum Technology, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh 786004, Assam, India
cPetroleum Engineering Program, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, Tamil Nadu, India
Received 20 June 2016; received in revised form 27 October 2016; accepted 17 January 2017
Available online
Abstract
One of the major enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes is chemical flooding especially for the depleted reservoirs. Chemical flooding involves
injection of various chemicals like surfactant, alkali, polymer etc. to the aqueous media. Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya are two depleted reservoirs of
upper Assam basin where chemical flooding can be done to recover the trapped oil that cannot be recovered by conventional flooding process.
Micellar-polymer (MP) flooding involves injection of micelle and polymer to the aqueous phase to reduce interfacial tension and polymer is added
to control the mobility of the solution, which helps in increasing both displacement and volumetric sweep efficiency and thereby leads to enhanced
oil recovery. This work represents the use of black liquor as micelle or surfactant that is a waste product of Nowgong Paper Mills, Jagiroad, Assam,
which is more efficient than the synthetic surfactants. The present study examines the effect of MP flooding through the porous media of two
depleted oil fields of upper Assam basin i.e. Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya for MP EOR.This work also compares the present MP flood with the earlier
work done on surfactant (S) flooding. It was experimentally determined that the MP flood is more efficient EOR process for Bhogpara and
Nahorkatiya reservoirs. The study will pertain to the comprehensive interfacial tension (IFT) study and the displacement mechanism in
conventional core samples.
© 2017 Tomsk Polytechnic University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords: Black liquor; Critical micelle concentration; Interfacial tension; Porous media; Enhanced oil recovery
1. Introduction
Enhanced oil recovery, commonly known as tertiary oil
recovery, is an eminent method of maximizing oil recovery
from the mature oil fields whose production has reached its
peak and has started to decline. The planning for improving,
maximizing or enhancing oil production strategies through
EOR methods is one of the most critical challenges facing the
oil industries today. EOR involves injection of more exotic and
correspondingly more expensive fluids other than water and
non-miscible gases. This method mobilizes and recovers the oil
that has been left behind or cannot be produced economically
by conventional means. Approximately 30–60% or more of the
reservoirs’ original oil can be extracted using EOR as compared
to primary and secondary recovery methods with 20–40%.
EOR includes so many methods such as thermal methods which
incorporates conventional steam, cyclic injection, steam
assisted gravity drainage and in-situ combustion, chemical
injection which incorporates surfactant, polymer, alkaline, sur-
factant with foam, gas injection which involves N2,CO
2, flue,
NGL and injection of microbes which is also known as micro-
bial enhanced oil recovery [1].
Basic mechanisms involved in chemical flooding are reduc-
tion in interfacial tension between oil and brine, solubilization
of released oil, change in the wettability toward more water wet,
reducing mobility contrast between crude oil and displacing
fluid. Chemical flooding is found to be recovering more oil
from the depleted reservoirs such as surfactant flooding,
micellar-polymer, alkaline, polymer flooding etc. Among EOR
techniques, micellar-polymer (MP) flooding process has the
potential as it uses surfactant to reduce interfacial tension (IFT)
and therefore, allow the oil to flow through porous media [2].
Beneficial synergistic effect by combining surfactant and alkali
in a chemical flood has been reported in the literature [3–8]. The
capillary forces reduce on addition of surfactants, which trap
* Corresponding author. Department of Petroleum Technology, School of
Earth, Atmospheric Science, Environment & Energy, Dibrugarh University,
Dibrugarh 786004, Assam, India. Fax: 0373 2370323.
E-mail address: borkha2014@dibru.ac.in (B.M. Das).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.reffit.2017.01.003
2405-6537/© 2017 Tomsk Polytechnic University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer review under responsibility of Tomsk Polytechnic University.
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the oil inside the pores of the rock. The surfactant slug helps to
displace the majority of the oil from the contacted reservoir, by
reduction of the interfacial tension between oleic phase and
aqueous phase. The surfactant flooding in petroleum reservoirs
is an effective way of recovering a fraction of remaining oil and
widely recognizable for providing an ultra low IFT (10−3
mN/m) between the oil and the aqueous solution containing
surfactant. Several surfactants have been investigated in the
literatures [9–13]. Babakhani et al. (2011) from his investiga-
tions found that around 60% of the reserves were recovered
with the help of chemical flooding. Surfactant reduces the IFT
value and polymer solution controls mobility and increases the
volumetric sweep efficiency, thereby enhanced oil recovery
[14]. Gurgel et al. also highlighted the use of various chemical
methods for further oil displacement from the depleted reser-
voirs which can be achieved by attaining ultra-low interfacial
tensions and reduced fluid viscosity in the oil reservoirs. He
mentioned the importance of interfacial science, physico-
chemical properties of chemical systems and geological char-
acteristics of the rock matrices to plan and obtain a high yield
processes through optimization and modeling techniques [15].
Mandal (2015) from his analysis also found that chemical
flooding mainly operates on two basic mechanisms, increase of
macroscopic and microscopic displacement efficiencies. The
increase in macroscopic efficiency can be obtained by polymer
injection which increases the viscosity of displacing fluid and
improves the mobility ratio whereas the increase in microscopic
efficiency can be obtained by alkali/surfactant injection through
reduction of IFT, emulsification of oil and water, solubilization
of interfacial films, wettability reversal, etc. [16].
Reduction of IFT is a major contributor for increasing the oil
recovery from the depleted reservoirs. If IFT is reduced, the
emulsification of residual oil will be easier and EOR will prove
to be more efficient. Many literatures have supported the par-
ticular phenomenon [17,18]. Surfactant plays an important role
in reducing the IFT by getting adsorbed into the liquid–liquid
interface and alters the wetting properties of reservoir rock and
fluid. Howard (1927) reported, for the first time, a patent on
surfactant-based chemical EOR where surface tension between
reservoir rock and crude oil was reduced using soap or any
other aqueous solutions [19]. De Groote (1929) granted a patent
where he claimed that water soluble surfactants help to improve
oil recovery [20]. Johnson et al. (1982) invented black liquor
(BL) that can be able to inject into an oil-bearing subterranean
formation before or simultaneously with the emulsion of
chemical flood that gets adsorbed on the active mineral surfaces
of the matrix formation and efficaciously reduces the surfactant
adsorption in the chemical flood. The effluent or BL is used
alternatively to displace the surfactant from the mineral sur-
faces that eventually helps in increasing the recovery of crude
oil [21]. Novosad (1983) claimed that the advantages of ligno-
sulfonates have not come from the activity as a sacrificial agents
[22]. With addition of lignosulfonate, the lowering of IFT can
be achieved, which was quantitatively similar to that observed
by the addition of NaCl, which was provided in the solution
when it was below the optimum salinity level. However, the
quantity of lignosulfonate required was much smaller for low-
ering IFT [23]. Several surfactants of petroleum sulfonate have
been examined to produce such low interfacial tensions.
However, this petroleum sulfonate is high in cost and one of the
major issues in surfactant flooding processes. The possibilities
of using lignosulfonates, which were almost four times cheaper
as compared with petroleum sulfonates for EOR operations,
have been reported [24–28]. About 10% of the total spent
liquors in Canada were processed to recover useful products
such as lignosulfonates [29] for various applications that
involves EOR.
The main objective of this work is to use a locally available
surfactant for an effective chemical flood. Especially, we will
investigate the use of inexpensive black liquor (BL), where the
main constituent is sodium lignosulfonate, which is readily
available from Nagoan Paper Mill at Jagiroad, Assam as a
substitute for the more expensive or commercial surfactant
[30]. This work also examines the comparison between MP and
surfactant flooding on the two depleted oil fields of upper
Assam basin i.e. Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya. The experiments
are conducted on the description of multiphase flow in porous
media based on Darcy’s law and JBN method for unsteady-state
displacements. JBN [31] method is a direct calculation method
derived from the simplified theory and formulation of immis-
cible displacement through porous media according to Buckley
and Leverett [9].
2. Experimental analysis
2.1. Materials
The materials used for the preparation of emulsion were
distilled water and paraffin oil with a density of 0.5742 g/ml
and viscosity 220 mPa.s. The brine solution used is 3000 ppm
of NaCl in DW having viscosity (μw) of 1 mPa.s. The surfactant
used is BL whose main constituent is Na-lignosulfonate, which
is cheap and locally available as waste from Nagoan Paper Mill,
Jagiroad. The polymer used is polyacrylamide with a density of
1.02 g/ml and viscosity 1.5 mPa.s.
Nomenclature
EOR enhanced oil recovery
IFT interfacial tension
CMC critical micelle concentration
S surfactant
MP micellar-polymer
g/ml gram per milliliter
mPa.s. millipascal.second
ppm parts per million
mg/l milligram per liter
kro relative permeability of oil
Swi irreducible water saturation
krw relative permeability of water
Sor residual oil saturation
mN/m millinewton per meter
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The core samples were from well no. BH(A) and NH(B)
which were cut into small cylindrical section of 7 cm length and
3.8 cm diameter, and were cleaned using Soxhlet apparatus
with a solvent mixture of xylene and toluene (50:50) which
took approximately 80 hours. They were then cleaned with
ultrasonic cleaner and finally dried with humidity control oven.
The total time taken for drying of all the samples is approxi-
mately 20 hrs.
Fluid formulation [Table 1] will be composed of locally
available Nagoan black liquor (BL) whose main constituent is
Na-lignosulfonate [C10H14N2Na2O82H2O] with a molecular
weight of 372 g/mol, a waste from Nowgong Paper Mills,
Jagiroad, Assam [32]. A polyacrylamide polymer will be used
for mobility control. The polymer concentration will be chosen
to provide a favorable mobility ratio between the oil bank and
displacing fluid.
2.2. Methods
2.2.1. IFT test
The sample MP was prepared by mixing 20 ml of brine,
20 ml of polymer and 20 ml of micellar thoroughly in the ratio
of 1:1 by vigorous shaking in bottles. Then in this sample 40 ml
of paraffin oil was added and the bottles were mixed gently and
allowed to equilibrate for 4 weeks.
After that the IFT test was conducted in KRUSS Easy Dyne
Tensiometer, which is used for measurements of the surface
tension of liquids, the interfacial tensions between two liquids
and measurements of the density of a liquid. The main principle
of the measuring method is the attractive forces between mol-
ecules which provide a certain work to change the size of a
liquid interface or surface. The interfacial or surface tension is
the force to be spent referring to the circumference of the
surface. The term surface tension is used when the liquid phase
borders to a gaseous phase, the term IFT refers to an interface
between two liquids.
The EasyDyne S measures the surface or interfacial tension
with a measuring probe suspended from a force sensor. This
probe is a ring or a plate consisting of a material with optimum
wetting properties (platinum respectively platinum–iridium)
and the experiments were conducted using Du Nouy ring
method [33].
2.2.2. Displacement experiments
The setup for permeability test essentially comprises a cylin-
drical section of 0.3048 m length and 0.0381 m packed with
crushed rock sample, pressure gauges, sample reservoir, sample
collector, stirrer and a pump all connected by pipes of 0.0127
and 0.022225 m outside diameter as shown in Fig. 1.
The core sample was crushed in such a way that the grains
were not broken. The crushed grains were made into a pack by
using emseal, purchased locally, compressed uniformly in order
to obtain a pack of uniform packing characteristics, and packed
into the test cylinder. The permeability experiment was not
carried with the actual core obtained from the oil field because
the clay minerals in the actual core samples encountered prob-
lems like swelling and also to gain further understanding of the
physical mechanisms of emulsion flow in porous media. The
measured effective porosity obtained by TPI-219 Teaching
Helium Porosimeter before flooding was found to be in between
18.78 and 21.90%. The pack was covered with a sieve of 320
mesh size at the top and the bottom. Flooding solutions were
stirred in the reservoir and injected at the bottom of the cylin-
drical section at a constant volumetric flow rate of 0.0002 m/s
by self-priming monoblock 186.425 watt (0.25 HP) pump sup-
plied by Telco, Coimbatore, India. The inlet and outlet pressures
of the cylindrical section were recorded from pressure gauges.
The general procedure for the coreflood experiment was:
1. The core was saturated with brine.
2. The core was placed in an oven and heated to reservoir
temperature.
3. The core is flooded with brine at 6 m/d until it was satu-
rated with brine to determine the absolute permeability
[K] of the core sample
4. Paraffin oil was flooded at 3 m/d until no more brine was
produced (about 2 PV) to determine the relative perme-
ability of oil to water at irreducible brine saturation [kro at
Swi]. The Swi averaged 0.30.
5. Water was flooded at 3 m/d until no more oil was pro-
duced (about 2 PV) to determine the relative permeability
of water to oil at residual oil saturation [krw at Sor]. The Sor
averaged 0.70.
6. The sequence of chemical floods, surfactant and micellar-
polymer (MP) was injected at 0.3048 m/d (1 ft/d)
3. Results
3.1. IFT test
The results of the IFT experiments are represented graphi-
cally below in Fig. 2. The IFT test shows that with the addition
of surfactant into the aqueous phase, the IFT between the
aqueous and oleic phases reduces and further addition of
Tab le 1
Fluid formulation.
Concentration type Formulation
Surfactant (S) concentration BL
0.5–1.5 wt%
Polymer concentration Polyacrylamide
2000–3500 mg/l
Brine 3000 ppm NaCl
Fig. 1. Permeability apparatus.
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surfactant further reduces the IFT value to 4.8 mN/m with a
CMC value of 0.335 g/ml [34]. With the addition of micellar-
polymer emulsion into the aqueous phase, the IFT value
reduced to a very low value of 0.9 mN/m with a CMC value of
0.3 g/ml which may lead to more enhanced oil recovery from
the porous media.
3.2. Displacement experiments
The results of the core flood experiments are represented
graphically below in Figs. 3 and 4 and are shown in tabulated
form in Table 2.
4. Discussion
Several mechanisms may be responsible for enhanced oil
recovery from the porous media of Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya
oil fields. These may be reduced IFT, better mobility ratio and
reduced chemical interaction.
Better IFT behavior was most evident when comparing the
two floods as in Fig. 2. The value of IFT obtained with the
addition of surfactant was 4.8 mN/m with CMC value as
0.335 g/ml whereas with the addition of micellar-polymer
Fig. 2. IFT between the phases of surfactant solution [34] and micellar-polymer emulsion.
Fig. 3. Oil recovery by S and MP flooding for BH(A).
Fig. 4. Oil recovery by S and MP flooding for NH(B).
Tab le 2
Core flood results obtained.
Flood Core sample % EOR
MP 50
S BH(A) 38
MP 56
S NH(B) 40
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emulsion, the IFT was found to be 0.9 mN/m with CMC value
as 0.3 g/ml. Without having much difference in the CMC value,
MP emulsion shows much reduced IFT value. Therefore, the
IFT experiments prove that addition of surfactant gives rise to
low IFT between the oleic and the aqueous phase but addition
of MP emulsion, which is a Winsor Type-I emulsion, gives rise
to lowest IFT which are very much in demand in enhanced oil
recovery projects. Reduction of IFT finally leads to the release
of residual oil droplets from the capillaries in the porous media,
thereby increasing substantially the amount of petroleum
obtainable from a given porous media. Many literatures have
reported that addition of surfactants lowers the IFT, thereby
leading to enhanced oil recovery [17,18].
The maximum recovery achieved by S flooding is 38% and
40% whereas by MP flooding, recovery is 50% and 56%, which
is quite high as compared to S flooding. This may be due to
more reduction of IFT due to addition of Winsor Type-I MP
emulsion and presence of polymer in MP helps to reduce the
mobility of the water, thus forcing the water to flow through
more flow channels in the rock and thereby providing a good
volumetric sweep. Therefore in MP flood, surfactant has been
found to increase oil production and polymer solution was
found to be a significant means of controlling mobility and
increasing volumetric sweep efficiency as is also found by
Babakhani et al. [14].
5. Conclusions
The emulsions prepared and used for the above study have
been characterized in terms of IFT and finally efficiency was
determined by displacement experiment. In S flooding, there
is only lowering of IFT which helps in releasing 40% oil
from the porous media. However, in MP flooding, micelle
helps in lowering the IFT value and added polymer helps in
increasing the volumetric sweep efficiency thereby helping in
releasing the residual droplets from the porous media and
enhances the oil recovery. Therefore, the enhanced oil
recovery was more from MP flooding as compared with S
flooding. The injection of a micellar slug into the core
samples of two depleted reservoirs leads to the release of oil
from the pores of the reservoir rock like a grease releases
from dishes using dishwashing detergent followed with
flushing by water. The micellar solution helps to release much
of the oil trapped in the rock of the oil-bearing formation in
the reservoir. Further enhancement of the oil production,
polymer-thickened water is injected behind the micellar slug
for mobility control. This method has one of the highest
recovery efficiencies of the current EOR methods and one of
the cost effective method than any other EOR methods to
implement BL as micelle in MP flooding which is a waste
product.
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support
provided to this project (SB/S3/CE/057/2013) from Depart-
ment of Science and Technology, Government of India.
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... A comparative study has been previously made between Surfactant (S) flooding and MP flooding which shows that addition of polymer with BL shows more IFT reduction and enhances more the oil recovery from both Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya oil fields as compared to BL alone. [23,24]. The present work has specifically carried out the comparison of MP flooding using BL and AP flooding using synthetic chemical i.e., alkali and directs or promotes to use BL as micelle or surfactant which is the waste from the paper industry and low or free of cost available, which may have the potential for enhancing crude oil recovery from the oil fields of depleting reservoirs ...
... The wettability test has performed by relative permeability test by observing the shape and magnitudes of Kro (relative permeability of oil) and Krw (relative permeability of water) curves. The core-flooding setup [24] has been used for permeability determination via Darcy's Law includes a cylinder section of 0.3048 m length and rock sample was crushed and then ground to powder size below 38 µm and average sizes (d50), analysed with Fritsch 30 Analysette 22 Compact Particle Size Analyzer, has been packed inside around 0.0381 m, pressure gauges, sample reservoir, sample collector, stirrer and a pump which are connected by pipes of 0.0127 and 0.022225 m of outside diameter as shown in Fig. 1. Samples had to be crushed and then ground to powder size. ...
... Various studies also reveal that MP flooding is more efficient than water flooding, surfactant flooding and polymer flooding [24,33]. As observed by the earlier work of Das et.al. ...
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Crude oil as a fuel is becoming important today with increasing global demand and prices due to the viability of expensive oil extraction techniques. Oil fields get depleted or matured due to production overtime where the remaining oil can be difficult to be extracted with the present expensive techniques except enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques. EOR has the potential to recover around 80% of the world's oil reserves. Enhanced oil recovery using chemicals (organic or inorganic) can become an important part of improving total production from depleting or mature oil fields. Using effective surfactant, EOR can become an economically viable technique. This work uses an industrial waste from a paper mill, i.e. black liquor (BL), which acts as a surfactant reduces the interfacial tension and increases the displacement efficiency, thereby leads to enhanced oil recovery. Core samples of Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya oil fields from upper Assam basin have been investigated for the economic crude oil recovery which is the depleted water-wet reservoirs. The present study involves a comparative analysis between micellar-polymer (MP) flooding method and alkaline-polymer (AP) flooding method through the porous media of oil fields named ‘Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya’ which is not available in the literature. This study experimentally observed that the MP flooding is more efficient EOR process as compared to AP flooding for Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya reservoirs. An economic analysis has been carried out for both the MP flooding and AP flooding methods. It is found that MP flooding shows a more economically viable solution than AP flooding by using an industrial waste (BL). This study is a precursor for further studies using BL for maximising oil (energy) recovery from the depleted oil fields in an economic prospect.
... A water-soluble polymer should characteristically withstand the inherent conditions associated with an oil reservoir. This is particularly important as oil reservoirs are mostly under high salinity, temperature and divalent ion concentration (Oruwori and Ikiensikimama, 2010;Wever et al., 2011;Lai et al., 2013;Choi et al., 2014;Al-Sabagh et al., 2016;Raffa et al., 2016;Das et al., 2017;Sarsenbekuly et al., 2017;Bai et al., 2018;Silva et al., 2018). Furthermore, the search for new oil reserves has pushed the bounds of the industry into deep offshore locations which are under extreme reservoir conditions. ...
... Additionally, these comonomers ensure that the modified polymer is resistant to conditions, which may initiate chemical and mechanical degradation. Moreover, these comonomers ensure that the modified polymer maintains a substantial part of its hydrodynamic volume, hence its viscosity, under M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 12 the conditions obtainable in an oil reservoir (Kamal et al., 2015;Das et al., 2017;Sarsenbekuly et al., 2017;Bai et al., 2018;Silva et al., 2018). Characterization of the molecular architecture of HAPAM polymers have been conducted using infrared (IR) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra . ...
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Research advancement in polymer flooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) has been growing over the last decade. This growth can be tied to increased funding towards the development of superior polymers such as hydrophobically associating polymers when oil prices were high and increasing concern that “easy oil” has been exploited with the focus now on “difficult to extract” oil. The use of hydrophobically associating polymers for EOR was discussed along with its limitations. In this context, the improved rheological properties of associating polymers cannot only be linked to the molecular structures arising from different synthesis methods. Equally, external parameters similar to conditions of oil reservoirs affect the rheological properties of these polymers. As such, this review placed critical emphasis on the molecular architecture of the polymer and the synthesis route and this was linked to the observed rheological properties. In addition, the influence of some key oilfield parameters such as temperature, salinity, pH, and reservoir heterogeneity on the rheological behaviour of hydrophobically associating polymers were reviewed. In this respect, the various findings garnered in understanding the correlation between polymer rheological properties and oilfield parameters were critically reviewed. For associating polymers, an understanding of the molecular architecture (and hence the synthesis method) is crucial for its successful design. However, this must be theoretically linked to the preferred EOR application requirements (based on oilfield parameters). Link to full paper: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1ZBSi3HHl63Fsn
... The reverse micelles are formed by mixing the surfactant at specific concentrations with the aqueous solution. The hydrophilic head of surfactant protects the proteins from denaturation by the organic phase and due to which little or no damage to their catalytic activity is reported [4][5][6] . This selective extraction of a target biomolecules from mixture in to reverse micelles can be achieved by varying parameters both in the organic and the feed phases [7] . ...
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To overcome the difficulties associated with the conventional extraction process like poor selective extrac- tion of biomolecule and scale up of the process, the reverse micellar system consist of AOT/n-heptanol was considered to extract Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as a model biomolecule. The maximum forward extraction of BSA from aqueous phase to micelle phase was observed at AOT concentration 160 mM, aque- ous phase pH value of 4, NaCl concentration 0.8 M and 95% back extraction of BSA from micelle phase to stripping phase was obtained at 1 M NaCl concentration with the pH of 7.5. HPLC analysis confirmed the stability of BSA during extraction. The size and water content of the reverse micelle was also reported. The obtained results emphasize the application of the AOT/n-heptanol reverse micellar system for the extraction of BSA and may be utilized for the selective extraction of similar hydrophilic proteins from the complex sources.
... Active agents which are used for tertiary recovery change the properties of the original oil in place (change viscosity, stabilize water-in-oil emulsions etc.). Furthermore, these surfactants can lead to both decreasing and increasing sizes of formed solid organic particles in oil [1][2][3] . Producing of changed oil is generally related to complications. ...
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In this paper the solid wax formation in two live oils of the Samara region fields on five operating pressureswith different contents of high molecular substances were examined. For both oil samples a linearrelation between wax appearance temperature and pressure was obtained. The study showed theinevitable transition of wax from the liquid phase to solid in the examined live oils under downhole conditions.This fact indicates a high probability of complications during well operations of these oilfields.If measures are not put in place to prevent the deposit formation in wells, there is a chance of completeblockage of tubing and flowlines by wax. These problems will lead to decrease in well flowratesto their shutdown, thereby increasing the operation costs to remove deposits and capital expenditures ofoil production. Evaluation of the conditions for the wax precipitation in oil wells will allow to developtechnology of prevention and remediation of previously formed organic deposits. The potential solid waxformation depth of both wells for minimum well flowrate of 20 m 3 per day are calculated. The technologyof continuous injection wax inhibitor in designed depth where formation of solid wax has not beenobserved yet is proposed.
... Polymer flooding consists of injection of water into an oil reservoir by adding a polymer to improve the viscosity and achieve the high efficiency in C-EOR. Different kinds of polymers have also been used in various C-EOR methods [1][2][3][4][5][6]. However, the difficult condition of the reservoirs, such as high temperature, high pressure, and the presence of inorganic salt leads to thermal and chemical degradation of the polymers. ...
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The multivariate data analysis refers to the process by which determination and classification of new unknown samples are made by accurate and economically practicable methods. In this paper, new analytical methods were utilized as a fast analytical method for regression and classification of polyacrylamide-nano silica (PAM-SiO2) as an influential factor in the rheological performance of the nanofluids, utilizing attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and chemometric methods. The effect of nanoparticle concentration on the viscosity measurement was determined. The spectral data were used for determination of viscosity value according to back-propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN) algorithm. The root mean square errors (RMSEs) of model and test set in BP-ANN method were 0.051, and 3.548, respectively. In classification model, the ATR-FTIR spectral data were applied for analysis by using the counter-propagation artificial neural networks (CP-ANN) for classification of PAM-SiO2 nanofluids. The samples were classified based on the effect of nanoparticle concentration on viscosity values. The correct classification of the four classes was obtained by using CP-ANN modelling procedure. This work attempts to propose an analytical method to regression and classification viscosity of real-world data sets.
... R is the universal gas constant equal (8.314 J K À1 mol À1 ), T is the temperature in Kelvin and g is the surface tension value, mN m À1 . 27,28 The Gibbs adsorption coefficient (n) is a function of the number of constituent species that are adsorbed at the interface and is taken as two values for the anionic surfactant system. 29 The minimum area A min occupied per surfactant moleculeÅ 2 per molecule at the air/aqueous interface is the inverse proportion with +ve values (G max ), as shown in the following equation: ...
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This study focuses on preparing a new family of organometallic surfactants based on five ion complexes, namely Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Fe³⁺, and Mn²⁺. The first step is the preparation of 5-chloromethyl salicylaldehyde (Salen, S). The second step is the formation of sodium alkoxide of Pluronic F-127 (AP). The third step is the formation of the modified AP–Salen (new ligand). This ligand was reacted with the metal chlorides as mentioned earlier to obtain the organometallic surfactants (OMS) named AP–Salen–M complexes. FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, SEM, and EDX justified the chemical structure of the as-prepared materials. The surface tension of these surfactants was measured for surfactant solutions at different concentrations to determine the CMC and calculate their surface–active properties. The interfacial tension at CMC was measured against heavy crude oil to predict the availability and use these surfactants in the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process. From the results, this class of surfactants exhibited good surface–active properties and high efficiency on the interface adsorption; besides, they reduced the interfacial tension in the order between 10⁻¹ and 10⁻² mN m⁻¹, which gives a good indication to use these surfactants in EOR application for the heavy crude oil.
... Their results revealed that as temperature increases IFT also increases in anaerobic conditions, whereas in aerobic conditions IFT decreases with temperature. The oil and water composition as well as temperature not only affect the interfacial activities of oil/water, but also they influence the rheological properties of water additives [16][17][18]. Lewandowska [19] examined the influence of salinity and temperature on the rheological properties of PAM and HPAM and the results indicated that salinity and temperature have a drastic impact on the viscosity of polymer solutions. Similar observations were reported for changes in viscosity when biopolymer (xanthan gum) was used [20,21]. ...
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This paper describes an investigation and analysis of the physiochemical properties of polymer and biopolymer, namely interfacial tension (IFT) and viscosity, at elevated temperature and salinity. The methodology applied entails the testing and evaluation of the two surface-active components stearic acid and quinoline, which represent acidic and basic components respectively, in n-decane as a model oil in contact with polymeric solutions. The polymeric solutions contain Polyacrylamide (PAM) or Xanthan Gum (XG) in water at different saline levels. The results indicate that the effectiveness of polymer and biopolymer were significantly affected by the acidic or basic medium. Acidic systems have been found to be more active than basic systems in the reduction of IFT at room temperature. It is also noted that changing the water base from distilled water to seawater had no significant impact on IFT. Furthermore, an analysis at temperatures of 80 ± 5 °C was conducted which indicated that there is an increase in IFT for all systems compared to a low temperature for both polymer and biopolymer systems. In respect to the effect of ageing time at high temperature, IFT increased slightly in the presence of polymer systems. However, in the case of biopolymer, IFT decreased with time at high temperature. A study of rheological properties of these systems shows that the viscosity of polymer or biopolymer solutions decreased, with a subsequent increase in shear rates. Average values of viscosity of 45–100 cP at a low shear rate of 3 rpm and 5–9 cP at the high shear rate of 600 rpm were observed for both polymer and biopolymer systems. Acidic and basic components do not affect the viscosity of the solutions at ambient temperature, whereas the addition of seawater results in a slight decrease in viscosity. On the other hand, the application of higher temperature leads to a significant decrease in viscosity. As such, the highest reduction in viscosity was observed over time when surface-active components and seawater were used.
... The potential of polymers to increase the sweep efficiency of water phase in oil reservoirs has led to the use of polymer solutions in the CEOR techniques. The use of polymer solutions decreases the motility of water and therefore increases the oil recovery [6][7][8][9][10]. Polymers such as polyacrylamide (PAM) and partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides (HPAM) have been widely used in different EOR applications. ...
... Recently, a study examined the effect of micellar-polymer flooding through the porous media of two depleted oil fields in Bhogpara and Nahorkatiya (Assam, India) basin. Black liquor, which is used as micelle or surfactant along with the polymer, released much of the oil trapped in the rock, and hence the recovery was enhanced (Das et al. 2017). Table 8 discusses the major successful pilot/field implementations of the chemical method of EOR worldwide. ...
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A significant amount of oil (i.e. 60–70%) remains trapped in reservoirs after the conventional primary and secondary methods of oil recovery. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods are therefore necessary to recover the major fraction of unrecovered trapped oil from reservoirs to meet the present-day energy demands. The chemical EOR method is one of the promising methods where various chemical additives, such as alkalis, surfactants, polymer, and the combination of all alkali–surfactant–polymer (ASP) or surfactant–polymer (SP) solutions, are injected into the reservoir to improve the displacement and sweep efficiency. Every oil field has different conditions, which imposes new challenges toward alternative but more effective EOR techniques. Among such attractive alternative additives are polymeric surfactants, natural surfactants, nanoparticles, and self-assembled polymer systems for EOR. In this paper, water-soluble chemical additives such as alkalis, surfactants, polymer, and ASP or SP solution for chemical EOR are highlighted. This review also discusses the concepts and techniques related to the chemical methods of EOR, and highlights the rheological properties of the chemicals involved in the efficiency of EOR methods.
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Chemical flooding has been found to be one of the major EOR techniques especially for reservoirs where thermal methods are not feasible. The application of chemical flooding is strongly influenced by the current economics, type of reserve oil and crude oil price. In this paper, an up to date status of chemical flooding at the laboratory scale, pilot projects and field applications have been reported. The basic mechanisms of different chemical methods have been discussed including the interactions of different chemicals with the reservoir rocks and fluids. The average recovery of oil after the conventional water flooding is highly encouraging particularly when the demand and price of crude oil is increasing day by day.
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With mounting pressure to extract petroleum from oil sands and other unconventional sources, oil refineries must adapt their processing methods to handle increasingly heavy crude oils. Unlike traditional crude oils, the properties of heavier crude oils include higher viscosity, metal, salt, and acid content. This causes their interfacial properties to deteriorate, leading to problems such as sedimentation, foaming, emulsification, rust, and corrosion—all of which make the manufacture, transportation, and storage of petroleum products more difficult. Interfacial Properties of Petroleum Products examines conventional and non-conventional processing techniques for crude oils and documents their effects on the composition and properties of petroleum products at the oil/solid, oil/air, oil/water and oil/metal interfaces. Focusing on surface activity, the author examines the undesirable effects of processes such as solvent extraction, desalting, dewaxing, catalyst deactivation, and hydroprocessing as well as trace element and water contamination. With each process, the author presents methods for improving interfacial properties, including the use of surface-active additives, demulsifiers, antifoaming agents, and corrosion/rust inhibitors. A distinctive and up-to-date source of materials published together for the first time, Interfacial Properties of Petroleum Products will help engineers design more cost-effective and resource-efficient processing methods for heavier crude oils, based on the properties of the crude oil extracted.
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This paper reports the effect of using black liquor and spent sulfite liquors, which emanate as effluent from Nowgong Paper Mill, Jagiroad, Assam, in enhanced crude oil recovery from Naharkotiya porous media. An attempt has been made to study the effect of interfacial tension of black liquor and how it affects the recovery of crude oil from the porous rock of Naharkotiya reservoir of Oil India Limited, Duliajan, Assam. The main constituent of black liquor is Na-lignosulfonate, an anionic water soluble surfactant. Addition of Na-lignosulfonate to crude oil emulsions gives rise to ultra-low inter-facial tensions between the oil and the aqueous phase, which are very much in demand in enhanced oil recovery projects. Reduction of interfacial tension leads to the release of residual oil droplets from the capillaries in the porous media, thereby increasing substantially the amount of petroleum obtainable from a given porous media.