Experimental Study on Phenol-Formaldehyde Resin Aggregates as In-Depth Conformance Control Agents Stabilized by...

Area of Science:

• Petroleum Engineering
• Polymer Science
• Materials Science

Background:

• Phenol-formaldehyde resin (PFR) particles are used in oilfield applications.
• Improving PFR dispersion stability and reservoir propagation is crucial for enhanced oil recovery.
• Existing methods face challenges in stabilizing PFR in simulated injection water.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the dispersion stability of PFR particles in simulated oilfield injection water.
• To improve the migration and propagation ability of PFR dispersions in petroleum reservoirs.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of hydrophobically associating polymer (HAP) as a stabilizer for PFR dispersions.

Main Methods:

• Turbidity measurements to assess PFR dispersion stability over time.
• Cellulose membrane filtration and sand pack flooding experiments to evaluate migration properties.
• Preparation and characterization of PFR/HAP complex molecular aggregates.

Main Results:

• HAP effectively stabilizes PFR dispersions by forming PFR/HAP complex molecular aggregates.
• These aggregates exhibit enhanced migration in sand packs, overcoming flow resistance through deformation and disaggregation.
• Oil recovery increased by up to 21.1% compared to water flooding, with higher PFR/HAP concentrations yielding better results.

Conclusions:

• The PFR/HAP system improves water conformance in high-permeability zones, diverting flow to low-permeability zones.
• Aggregate behavior (log-jamming/dispersion) facilitates penetration of larger pores, enhancing sweep efficiency.
• This technology offers a promising approach for incremental oil recovery, particularly in reservoirs with high permeability heterogeneity.