Selectivity of Pore-Scale Elastic Microspheres as a Novel Profile Control and Oil Displacement Agent

Abstract

Pore-scale elastic microspheres were prepared controllably and their swelling property, stability, and creep-recovery property in brine water were analyzed in laboratory. The goal of the research was to study the selectivity of the pore-scale elastic microspheres as a novel profile control (water injection profile modification) and oil displacement agent. The matching factor between particle size of elastic microspheres and pore throat diameter of sand pack model was introduced to characterize their matching relationship. The results indicate that the optimal matching factor is 1.35–1.55. Besides, the profile control and oil displacement effect were studied using a series of heterogeneous double-tube sand pack models with optimal matching factors. The shunt flow experiments show that when the matching factor is an optimal value, the elastic microspheres prefer to plug the high-permeability layer selectivity and almost do not clog the low-permeability layer. The oil displacement experiments show that the e...