Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 7, 2025

Microfluidic Devices for Characterizing Pore-scale Event Processes in Porous Media for Oil Recovery Applications
Published on: January 16, 2018
Dynamics of HPAM flow and injectivity in sandstone porous media
M S Mousapour1, M Simjoo2, M Chahardowli1
1Faculty of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract:
Polymer flooding is a prominent chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) method that involves the injection of polymer solution into the oil reservoirs to improve the sweep efficiency and maximize the ultimate oil recovery. Selecting an appropriate polymer type, molecular weight, and concentration is crucial for success of any polymer flooding project. This paper studies the flow behavior of HPAM-based EOR polymers with different molecular weights through porous media. Dynamic adsorption and injectivity tests were performed through 5 Darcies sandpacks using polymer solutions prepared with low (LM; 8-10 MDa) and high (HM; 20-25 MDa) molecular weight polymers. Polymer solutions with different target viscosity values of 7, 15 and 30 cP were flooded through sandpacks at the reservoir temperature of 80 ºC and pore pressure of 1000 psi. The results showed that HM solutions with different target viscosity have higher polymer retention through sandpacks compared to LM solutions. Furthermore, results of residual resistance factor (RRF) measurements were in line with dynamic adsorption tests results. That is, permeability reduction due to irreversible polymer retention was higher when HM polymer solutions were injected. Furthermore, the results showed that although the resistance factor (RF) and in-situ viscosity of HM and LM polymers are in the same range, however, shear thickening regime becomes pronounced in the case of HM polymer with higher target viscosity. Polymer relaxation time measurements, and consequently, Deborah number calculations were performed to describe the shear thickening behavior by polymers viscoelastic characteristics. Results demonstrate that occurrence of shear thickening regime is controlled by Deborah number which is a function of polymer molecular weight, polymer concentration and injection rate. These results shed light on the importance of the selection of optimal polymer molecular weight and concentration during the design of polymer flooding projects.
More Related Videos
10:18Dynamic Pore-scale Reservoir-condition Imaging of Reaction in Carbonates Using Synchrotron Fast Tomography
Published on: February 21, 2017
12:18Pore-scale Imaging and Characterization of Hydrocarbon Reservoir Rock Wettability at Subsurface Conditions Using X-ray Microtomography
Published on: October 21, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Steady Flow of a Fluid Stream
During this process, the momentum of the fluid within the control volume remains constant over the time interval dt. By applying the...
Plane Potential Flows
Uniform...
Uniform Depth Channel Flow
Design Example: Flow of Oil Through Circular Pipes
Continuity Equation
The mass flow rate is expressed as:
Rapidly Varying Flow