A new approach for measuring rheology of polymer solutions in reservoir conditions

Abstract

The simulation of flow processes under reservoir condition is a hard task. Viscosity of polymer solution in porous media depends on adsorption of polymers on mineral substrates. Specific features characterize filtration of polymer solutions in porous media. Here, we propose a new approach to evaluate the rheology of polymers that considers fluid interactions with mineral surfaces. The principle of this method is as follows: measuring viscosity of «mineral-in-polymer » suspension. Hence, this approach needs simple equipment rather than complex core flooding system. The laboratory selection of effective polymer and its optimum concentration is carried out by the proposed approach. It is crucial for primary screening of some polymers. The presence of dispersed minerals in model suspensions influences the surface tension between the polymer solution and solid surface with various chemical nature. In order to justify this method, we used minerals with different chemical nature such as dispersed calcite and dolomite, and two widely used polyacrylamide type polymers that differ in molecular masses. We observed that viscosities between various suspensions differ several times due to the surface nature. We also determined the correlation between the viscosity of model suspension and contact angle. The latter is determined by chemical nature of minerals.