Comparative Analysis on Rate Dependent Polymer Flooding Using Bio and Synthetic Polymers

Abstract

Abstract Polymer play a key role in several EOR processes such as polymer flooding, surfactant-polymer flooding and alkaline-surfactant-polymer flooding due to their critical importance of mobility control in achieving high oil recovery. This high oil recovery is dependent on polymer properties and the rate of flooding. This paper presents the results of polymer flooding of an unconsolidated porous media using the locally available Gum Arabic in its natural and Modified states. Commonly used polymers Xantham Gum and Hengfloc were also used for comparison. The effective flooding rate was established using Modified Gum Arabic as the polymer. The established flow rate was used in polymer flooding for other polymers. Different concentration of each polymer was used to achieve similar viscosity of polymer solutions used for each flooding. The brine, oil and porous media properties were also kept constant. The results from these studies favoured a low injection rate. More oil up to 90% of original oil in place was recovered. The result from the oil recovery using the established effective rate on other polymers showed that the Modified Gum Arabic recovers approximately 10% more than the natural Gun Arabic, Xantham Gum and Hengfloc. The recoveries were 90.2%, 81%, 79.5% and 80.2%, respectively. It was also observed that the oil retention time in polymer mixture is lower in Modified Gum Arabic and Natural Gum Arabic when compared to Xantham Gum and Hengfloc.