Abstract
Polymer degradation is critical for polymer flooding because it can significantly influence the viscosity of a polymer solution, which is a dominant property for polymer enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In this work, physical experiments and numerical simulations were both used to study partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) degradation and its effect on polymer flooding in heterogeneous reservoirs. First, physical experiments were conducted to determine basic physicochemical properties of the polymer, including viscosity and degradation. Notably, a novel polymer dynamic degradation experiment was recommended in the evaluation process. Then, a new mathematical model was proposed and an in-house three-dimensional (3D) two-phase polymer flooding simulator was designed to examine both polymer static and dynamic degradation. The designed simulator was validated by comparison with the simulation results obtained from commercial software and the results from the polymer flooding experiments. This simulator further investigated and validated polymer degradation and its effect. The results of the physical experiments showed that the viscosity of a polymer solution increases with an increase in polymer concentration, demonstrating their underlying power law relationship. Moreover, the viscosity of a polymer solution with the same polymer concentration decreases with an increase in the shear rate, demonstrating shear thinning. Furthermore, the viscosity of a polymer solution decreased with an increase in time due to polymer degradation, exhibiting an exponential relationship. The first-order dynamic degradation rate constant of 0.0022 day−1 was greater than the first-order static degradation rate constant of 0.0017 day−1. According to the simulation results for the designed simulator, a 7.7% decrease in oil recovery, after a cumulative injection volume of 1.67 pore volume (PV) was observed between the first-order dynamic degradation rate constants of 0 and 0.1 day−1, which indicates that polymer degradation has a detrimental effect on polymer flooding efficiency.
Highlights
Polymers are essential and ubiquitous in our daily life due to their broad range of properties [1]
Polymer flooding enhances oil recovery by reducing the water-oil mobility ratio [7], and this advanced technology has been used in oilfields since the 1950s [8]
The physical experiment results showed that the viscosity of the polymer solution these reservoirs
Summary
Polymers are essential and ubiquitous in our daily life due to their broad range of properties [1]. They have been widely applied in the chemical, construction, agriculture, transportation, communications, aerospace, and medicine fields [2,3,4,5]. Polymer flooding enhances oil recovery by reducing the water-oil mobility ratio [7], and this advanced technology has been used in oilfields since the 1950s [8]. The successful application of polymer flooding in the development of Chinese oilfields has alleviated the pressure to find more domestic oil and has helped meet the crude oil demand to a certain extent [9].
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