Rate-dependent polymer adsorption in porous media.

Idahosa, P.E.G.; Oluyemi, G.F.; Oyeneyin, M.B.; Prabhu, R.

Abstract

Laboratory core flood experiments were conducted at different flow rates with partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide (HPAM) oilfield Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) polymer and silica sand to investigate the polymer retention in porous media due to flow rate variation. Specifically, the double-polymer bank method was used in a new way to quantify and understand total incremental retention (both reversible and irreversible) induced by flow rate variation for HPAM polymers. Experimental results indicate that adsorption was the dominant retention mechanism. Further, the results obtained show that polymer adsorption was rate-dependent (i.e., as flow rate increased, adsorption increased), and that the adsorption was largely reversible with minimal incremental irreversible adsorption. It was also observed that flow rate impacted polymer inaccessible pore volume (IAPV) decreasing from 32% to 15% as flow rate increased from 0.8 ml/min to 6.0 ml/min. Finally, results from the study also give better insight into understanding HPAM flow-induced adsorption and their effect on permeability reduction processes.

Citation

IDAHOSA, P.E.G., OLUYEMI, G.F., OYENEYIN, M.B. and PRABHU, R. 2016. Rate-dependent polymer adsorption in porous media. Journal of petroleum science and engineering [online], 143, pages 65-71. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2016.02.020

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 22, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Feb 23, 2016
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Sep 8, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 24, 2017
• Journal: Journal of petroleum science and engineering
• Print ISSN: 0920-4105
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-4715
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 143
• Pages: 65-71
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2016.02.020
• Keywords: Polymer adsorption; Core flooding; Enhanced oil recovery; Porous media; Flow rate
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1615
• Contract Date: Sep 8, 2016