Abstract
ABSTRACT Polyacrylamide and polysaccharide adsorption on natural water-wet sand and sandstones is shown to modify markedly the flow behavior of both water and oil. At residual oil saturation, the quantity of adsorbed polymer per gram of rock is found to be almost the same as at full water saturation, but the permeability reduction to water is increased by the presence of trapped oil droplets which reduce the flow cross-section for the water phase. The presence of adsorbed polymer always induces an increase in the water irreducible saturation due to polymer hydration water which is not expelled by contact with oil. However the oil relative permeability is shown to be little affected by adsorbed polymer over the remaining saturation range. On the basis of a capillary two-phase flow model, this phenomenon is interpreted as the result of the competition between the reduction of flow cross-sections and the enhancement of the water-wettability of the rock, with both effects having the same origin, i.e. the polymer adsorption process.
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