Construction and evaluation of a graphite oxide Nanoparticle-Reinforced polymer flooding system for enhanced oil recovery

Abstract

Insufficient mobility control capability and limited swept volume are the primary challenges faced by polymer flooding technology. In this work, a graphite oxide nanoparticle-reinforced polymer (GORP) flooding system was constructed. Compared with the conventional polymer (CP) flooding system, the GORP flooding system with 0.15% graphite oxide nanoparticles has a better viscosity increasing effect, shearing resistance and aging stability. In terms of mobility control capability, due to the reinforcing effect of graphite oxide nanoparticles on the three-dimensional polymer network structure, the GORP flooding system has a higher resistance factor and residual resistance factor than the CP flooding system in different permeability cores. In addition, the NMR online displacement experiment results further prove that the enhanced oil recovery performance of the GORP flooding system is more prominent, with a total recovery of 72.87%, which is 5.04% higher than that of the CP flooding system. The GORP flooding system may have the potential to become a long-term effective technology to control the water cut of oil wells.