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Updated: Sep 27, 2025

Enhanced Oil Recovery using a Combination of Biosurfactants
Published on: June 3, 2022
Application of Polymers for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Review
Afeez Gbadamosi1, Shirish Patil1, Muhammad Shahzad Kamal2
1Department of Petroleum Engineering, College of Petroleum and Geosciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract:
Polymers play a significant role in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) due to their viscoelastic properties and macromolecular structure. Herein, the mechanisms of the application of polymeric materials for enhanced oil recovery are elucidated. Subsequently, the polymer types used for EOR, namely synthetic polymers and natural polymers (biopolymers), and their properties are discussed. Moreover, the numerous applications for EOR such as polymer flooding, polymer foam flooding, alkali-polymer flooding, surfactant-polymer flooding, alkali-surfactant-polymer flooding, and polymeric nanofluid flooding are appraised and evaluated. Most of the polymers exhibit pseudoplastic behavior in the presence of shear forces. The biopolymers exhibit better salt tolerance and thermal stability but are susceptible to plugging and biodegradation. As for associative synthetic polyacrylamide, several complexities are involved in unlocking its full potential. Hence, hydrolyzed polyacrylamide remains the most coveted polymer for field application of polymer floods. Finally, alkali-surfactant-polymer flooding shows good efficiency at pilot and field scales, while a recently devised polymeric nanofluid shows good potential for field application of polymer flooding for EOR.
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