Abstract

Polymer gels have been proved useful for profile control and reducing excess water production from hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs. In the present work, gels consisting of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and a blend of these two polymers (PVA and PVP) crosslinked with organic crosslinker was developed and studied. The optimum pH and polymer crosslinker ratio for gel systems was between 8 and 9 and the ratio was 1/0.25 respectively. The viscoelastic properties and thermal properties of blends were characterized using rheometer and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) respectively. Rheological data indicated that elastic modulus is higher than loss modulus (G′ > G″) which shows that developed gel systems are the viscoelastic in nature. From the DSC analysis, free and bound water contents were distinguished. DSC result indicated that the gel systems could be used for excess water management in the temperature ranges of 87–69 °C. The developed gel systems were further characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to investigate hydrogen bonding and microstructure of the systems respectively. The effectiveness of the prepared gel systems for controlling excess water production was tested under in-situ condition using sandpack flooding study. The study basically involved the detailed in-situ gelation mechanism of the developed gel systems. The developed gels and blend showed better stability in the porous media and good water shut-off performance in the mature oil fields.

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