Chemical EOR
1. Despite the efficacy of Surfactant Flooding (which essentially improves the pore-scale displacement efficiency by reducing oil-water IFT any by modifying rock wettability), to what extent, the economic feasibility of ‘Free Surfactant Injection’ during a typical Chemical EOR – could positively be addressed - through the utilization of ‘Surfactant Carriers’, towards mitigating extensive losses through adsorption or precipitation on the rock surfaces?
2. Feasible to deduce ‘A Time Dependent Chemical Structure’ of Polymerswhich could possibly act as both ‘Wettability Modifiers’ as well as ‘Surfactant Carriers’, in addition to its conventional expectation on enhancing the volumetric sweep efficiency by reducing the oil-brine mobility ratio through amplified viscosity?
Could ‘polymeric surfactants’ “simultaneously” (a) enhance viscosity in the aqueous medium; (b) reduce IFT; as well as (c) modify rock wettability?
If so, then, the conventional drawbacks including (a) reservoir and well damage; and (b) reduced viscosity due to polymer solution adsorption and shear forces in oil reservoirs (particularly associated with HPHT and High-Saline Reservoirs with relatively heavier oils) – could be gotten rid-off?
3. Since, HPAM’s (which is the prevalent synthetic polymer in EOR flooding) viscosifying potential gets diminished under the presence of high-saline brine, and also, due to HPAM’s susceptibility to thermal and mechanical degradation impacts the longevity of the polymer flooding, can the application either Biopolymers or HPAM Derivatives (amphoteric hyper-branched polymer derivatives) (cellulose, chitosan & galactomannan-guar) could really enhance EOR system stability?
Suresh Kumar Govindarajan, Professor [HAG]
IIT Madras, 16-Dec-2024
Suresh Kumar Govindarajan
Tertiary oil production using surfactants depends on many factors. It is necessary to take a core sample from the field and experiment on it. You have listed the physical and chemical factors. But the main thing is the economic indicators. For example, we proposed coke industry waste for production. Advantage: production of additional oil, conversion of sulfonic acids - waste into hydrocarbons, utilization of coke industry waste. However, the cost of delivery of this waste to the oil field did not allow the introduction of the new technology. I offer our review on this issue.
Book Aqueous Hydrocarbon Systems in Science and Engineering
Patent COMPOSITION FOR TERTIARY OIL PRODUCTION
Dear Suresh Kumar Govindarajan, the matter of feasibility of chemical enhanced oil recovery was bypassed decades ago, now it is more focusing improvements and performance. The economic aspect is related more to the residual oil in place, after primary and secondary recoveries. I worked on this topic two decades ago, using partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, it is a general purpose polymer with regard to EOR, however sulfonated polyacrylamides are more recommended whenever the problems of adsorption arise. Prof. Charles McCormick work group at the University of Southern Mississippi did a broad and systematic research on major types of polyacrylamides in this area. Following are more recent papers on both surfactant and polymer EOR. My Regards
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2020.11.009
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2016.07.007
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.1c03301
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