Hydrodynamic Retention and Rheology of EOR Polymers in Porous Media

Abstract

Abstract Polymer retention caused by increase of hydrodynamic force acting upon polymer molecules was evaluated in this study. The results indicate this hydrodynamic retention is strongly flow rate dependent. In the low-flow region, the retention increases abruptly with increased flow rate. In contrast, in the high-flow region, the increase becomes much more gradual. Our results also demonstrate that this flow-induced retention is totally reversible (no incremental irreversible retention occurs), which is also confirmed by the constant residual resistance factors determined after 100 PV of brine postflush. Consistent with previous literature, distinct flow behaviors of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) and xanthan polymers in porous media were observed. For HPAM, in the low-flow regime, Newtonian behavior (i.e., resistance factor is independent of flow rate) was exhibited. In the moderate-to-high-flow regime, HPAM showed shear-thickening behavior (resistance factor increase with flow rate). In contrast, only shear thinning (resistance factor decreases with flow rate) was detected for xanthan polymer. By analyzing the retention and rheology of both HPAM and xanthan polymers, we show that hydrodynamic retention has little effect on polymer rheology in porous media.