Coupling of Polymer Injection with Immiscible Co2 Flooding Enhances the Oil Recovery
Autor: usmanraza • August 28, 2017 • Research Paper • 1,898 Words (8 Pages) • 687 Views
COUPLING OF POLYMER INJECTION WITH
IMMISCIBLE CO2 FLOODING ENHANCES THE OIL
RECOVERY
Saad Aziz Mirza
Z5001942
INTRODUCTION
The carbon dioxide injection is used to dump co2 and increase oil recovery. In this literature
review several methods and experiments shall be discussed to maximize this recovery process
with additional advantages of polymer flooding.
It includes a study performed by youngchen song on combination of co2 and polymer flooding
using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) focusing on oil distribution, saturation, fingering and
channeling all detected from imaging conducted on porous media. The study indicates at the end
how viable this combination of co2 and polymer is in making the overall recovery process more
efficient.
The second part will include a case study performed by Y.Zhang at Saskatechewan field on
laboratory scale, comparing the three methods of enhanced recovery i.e. Walter alternate Gas
injection, Polymer and finally the coupled of both CO2 and Polymer, that results in much better
recovery efficiency and gas utilization than the other two.
In comparison to viscosity the effective permeability of crude oil is less than that of co2 making
the mobility ratio of the both very high. As also discussed by the Zhang that low viscosity of
carbon dioxide with respect heavy oil leads to gravity over ride and also causes the problems of
fingering and channeling inhibiting the sweep efficiency and recovery. This makes continuous
injection of Co2 unfavorable. To solve this issue water alternate gas technology is utilized but
that too have its limitation that is emergence of water lock phenomenon.
Moreover this also causes fouling as high saturation of co2 in water dissolves mineral rock. To
deal with this issue Hild et al suggested the use of polymer and this was further improved by
zhang who suggested the coupling of co2 with Hild’s method.
Polymer reduces the mobility ratio of water and oil increasing the sweep
...