Shear degradation of polyacrylamide solutions
Partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide solutions are highly shear degradable and may lose much of their effectiveness in reducing water mobility when sheared by porous rock in the vicinity of an injection well. Degradation is investigated in this paper by forcing polymer solutions, prepared in brines of various salinities, through consolidated sandstone plugs differing in length and permeability, over a wide range of flow rates. A correlation for degradation based on a theoretical visco-elastic fluid model is developed that extends predictive capability to situations not easily reproduced in the laboratory. Mobility reduction losses in field cores at reservoir flow rates are measured following degradation and found to depend strongly on formation permeability. Consideration of field applications shows that injection into typical wellbore geometries can lead to losses of unsheared mobility reduction larger than 80%. Also discussed are consequences for incremental oil recovery and the possibility of injecting through propped fractures. (26 refs.)
- Research Organization:
- Exxon Prod Res Co
- OSTI ID:
- 6677838
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-7410175-
- Journal Information:
- Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States), Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Vol. SPE-5101; ISSN SEAPA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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03 NATURAL GAS
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ACRYLAMIDE
ADDITIVES
AMIDES
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
DISPERSIONS
FLOW RATE
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
FRACTURING FLUIDS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
MIXTURES
NATURAL GAS WELLS
OIL WELLS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
RESERVOIR FLUIDS
RESERVOIR ROCK
SHEAR PROPERTIES
SOLUTIONS
WATERFLOODING
WELLS