Behavior of polymers in porous media

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1974 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6751863

Hill, H J; Brew, J R; Claridge, E L; Hite, J R; Pope, G A

A partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide and a biopolysaccharide are being investigated for use as mobility control agents in waterflooding and in chemical flooding. Both polymers have functioned satisfactorily in some laboratory experiments and unsatisfactorily in others. The polyacrylamide has given adequate mobility control in moderate permeability rocks when it is injected under conditions which minimize shear degradation. In bead pack flow experiments, it was found that degradation occurs at shear rates of about 1,000 sec/sup -1/. The polysaccharide solution was only slightly degraded by exposure to shear rates of about 30,000 sec/sup -1/. These observations, if applicable to field injection situations, limit injection rates severely in wells with restricted entry completions. The polysaccharide solutions compared with polyacrylamide solutions are less sensitive to shear degradation, less sensitive to viscosity reduction by increasing salt concentration and are amenable to the use of simplified mobility design procedures. Despite these advantages, laboratory studies indicate several disadvantages may exist. (23 refs.)

• Research Organization: Shell Development Co.
• OSTI ID: 6751863
• Report Number(s): CONF-7404143-
• Journal Information: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States), Vol. SPE-4748; Conference: SPE of AIME improved oil recovery symposium, Tulsa, OK, USA, 22 Apr 1974
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
58 GEOSCIENCES
POLYAMIDES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
POLYSACCHARIDES
POROUS MATERIALS
FLUID FLOW
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CONTROL
MOBILITY
SHEAR PROPERTIES
CARBOHYDRATES
MATERIALS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
POLYMERS
SACCHARIDES
360400* - Polymers & Plastics- (-1987)
580100 - Geology & Hydrology- (-1989)