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Polymers
Special Issues
Application of Polymers for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery
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Application of Polymers for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2024) | Viewed by 2457

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hu Guo

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Guest Editor
Unconventional Petroleum Research Institute, China University of Petroluem-Beijing, Beijing, China
Interests: polymer flooding; ASP flooding; SP flooding; capillary number; mobility; CCUS
Dr. Zhengbo Wang

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Co-Guest Editor
Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Beijing, China
Interests: EOR potential evaluation; reservoir engineering; chemical flooding
Prof. Dr. Kaoping Song

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Co-Guest Editor
The Unconventional Oil and Gas Institute, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China
Interests: polymer flooding; water flooding; waterflood optimization; invalid water circulation treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymer flooding was first reported in the 1960s and field tested in the 1970s-1990s in the USA, Germany, France, Oman, Canada, China, Austria, and India. The commercial success of polymer flooding in China, Canada, and India in both light and heavy oil reservoirs showed the amazing potential of polymers for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Recent studies indicated that polymers can be used to displace very viscous oils, even in low-permeability reservoirs. Meanwhile, great advances have been made in affordable surfactants to promote surfactant EOR. The combination of surfactants and polymers enables attractive surfactant-polymer (SP) flooding because of the reduced mobility ratio and increased capillary number. Traditionally, alkalis were added to help reduce the retention of expensive surfactants, but now this effect may be unnecessary. SP flooding can compete with Alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding. Another promising technology was nanofluids EOR which was less understood. The Spring of chemical EOR is finally coming. This Special Issue welcomes all chemical EOR studies for both light and heavy oil reservoirs, as well as conventional and unconventional reservoirs.  The following topics can be covered by submitted papers: (1) polymer flooding; (2) surfactant-polymer (SP) flooding; (3) ASP flooding; (4) alkali-polymer flooding; (5) nanofluid EOR; and (6) emulsion flooding.

Dr. Hu Guo
Dr. Zhengbo Wang
Prof. Dr. Kaoping Song
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • polymer flooding
  • SP flooding
  • ASP flooding
  • emulsion flooding
  • nanofluids EOR
  • EOR mechanisms
  • field test

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2771 KiB  
Article
Combining Thermal Effect and Mobility Control Mechanism to Reduce Water Cut in a Sandstone Reservoir in Kazakhstan
by Dilyara Sagandykova, Mariam Shakeel and Peyman Pourafshary
Polymers 2024, 16(12), 1651; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16121651 - 11 Jun 2024
Viewed by 335
Abstract
The application of polymer flooding is currently under investigation to control water cut and recover residual oil from a giant sandstone reservoir in Kazakhstan, where the water cut in most producers exceeds 90%, leaving substantial untouched oil in the porous media. The primary [...] Read more.
The application of polymer flooding is currently under investigation to control water cut and recover residual oil from a giant sandstone reservoir in Kazakhstan, where the water cut in most producers exceeds 90%, leaving substantial untouched oil in the porous media. The primary objective of this research is to explore the feasibility of a novel approach that combines the mechanisms of mobility control by polymer injection and the thermal effects, such as oil viscosity reduction, by utilizing hot water to prepare the polymer solution. This innovative hybrid method’s impact on parameters like oil recovery, resistance factor, and mobility was measured and analyzed. The research involved an oil displacement study conducted by injecting a hot polymer at a temperature of 85 °C, which is higher than the reservoir temperature. Incremental recovery achieved through hot polymer injection was then compared to the recovery by conventional polymer flooding and the conventional surfactant–polymer-enhanced oil recovery techniques. The governing mechanisms behind recovery, including reductions in oil viscosity, alterations in polymer rheology, and effective mobility control, were systematically studied to comprehend the influence of this proposed approach on sweep efficiency. Given the substantial volume of residual oil within the studied reservoir, the primary objective is to improve the sweep efficiency as much as possible. Conventional polymer flooding demonstrated a moderate incremental oil recovery rate of approximately 48%. However, with the implementation of the new hybrid method, the recovery rate increased to more than 52%, reflecting a 4% improvement. Despite the polymer’s lower viscosity during hot polymer flooding, which was observed by the lower pressure drop in contrast to the conventional polymer flooding scenario, the recovery factor was higher. This discrepancy indicates that while polymer viscosity decreases, the activation of other oil displacement mechanisms contributes to higher oil production. Applying hybrid enhanced oil recovery mechanisms presents an opportunity to reduce project costs. For instance, achieving comparable results with lower chemical concentrations is of practical significance. The potential impact of this work on enhancing the profitability of chemically enhanced oil recovery within the sandstone reservoir under study is critical. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Polymers for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery)
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19 pages, 17026 KiB  
Article
Remaining Oil Distribution Law and Development Potential Analysis after Polymer Flooding Based on Reservoir Architecture in Daqing Oilfield, China
by Hongtao Fu, Zhenqiang Bai, Hu Guo, Kena Yang, Chunping Guo, Mingxi Liu, Lihao Liang and Kaoping Song
Polymers 2023, 15(9), 2137; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15092137 - 29 Apr 2023
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1675
Abstract
Polymer flooding has drawn more and more attention in the world for its high incremental oil recovery factor and relative low costs compared with water flooding and other chemically enhanced oil recovery techniques. However, for many oilfields, such as Daqing Oilfield, China, that [...] Read more.
Polymer flooding has drawn more and more attention in the world for its high incremental oil recovery factor and relative low costs compared with water flooding and other chemically enhanced oil recovery techniques. However, for many oilfields, such as Daqing Oilfield, China, that have already been flooded with polymers, how to further improve recovery remains a big problem. Traditional intralayer, interlayer and plane heterogeneity studies cannot accurately characterize the remaining oil distribution after polymer flooding. To solve this problem, we established a method to quantitatively describe the reservoir’s architecture. Then, the architecture elements were dissected hierarchically and the interface of each architecture level in Daqing Oilfield was identified. The distribution pattern and development potential of the remaining oil after polymer flooding under the influence of reservoir architecture was analyzed. The results show that, regarding the sedimentary process from north to south in Daqing Oilfield, the channel becomes narrower, the thickness decreases, the point bar’s width increases and the thickness of the meandering river decreases. The braided bar scale becomes larger and the thickness becomes smaller in the braided river. According to the reservoir’s architecture, the remaining oil was divided into four categories of plane remaining oil (abandoned channel occlusion type, interfluvial sand body occlusion type, inter-well retention type and well pattern uncontrollable type) and three types of vertical remaining oil (in-layer interlayer occlusion type, rhythm type and gravity type). About 40% of the original oil in place (OOIP) of Daqing Oilfield has not yet been produced, which indicates that there is great potential for development. This study is important for improving oil recovery in polymer-flooded reservoirs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Polymers for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery)
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