J169107 DOI: 10.

2118/169107-PA Date: 30-October-14

Stage:

Page: 1

Total Pages: 11

Preformed-Particle-Gel Extrusion
Through Open Conduits During
Conformance-Control Treatments
Abdulmohsin Imqam, Baojun Bai, Mustafa Al Ramadan, and Mingzhen Wei, Missouri University of Science
and Technology; and Mojdeh Delshad and Kamy Sepehrnoori, University of Texas at Austin

Summary
Millimeter-sized (10 lmmm) preformed particle gels (PPGs)
have been used successfully as conformance-control agents in
more than 5,000 wells. They help to control both water and CO2
production through high-permeability streaks or conduits (large
pore openings), which naturally exist or are aggravated either by
mineral solution or by a high injection pressure during the flooding process. This paper explores several factors that can have an
important impact on the injectivity and plugging efficiency of
PPGs in these conduits. Extensive experiments were conducted to
examine the effect of the conduit inner diameter and the PPG
strength on the ratio of the particle size to the opening diameter,
injectivity index, resistance factor, and plugging efficiency. Fivefoot tubes with four internal diameters were designed to emulate
the opening conduits. Three pressure taps were mounted along the
tubes to monitor PPG transport and plugging performance. The
results show that weak gel has less injection pressure at a large
particle/opening ratio compared to strong gel. PPG strength
affected injectivity more significantly than did particle/opening
ratio. Resistance factor increased as the brine concentration and
conduit inner diameter increased. PPGs can significantly reduce
the permeability of a conduit, and their plugging efficiency
depends highly on the particle strength and the conduit inner diameter. The particle size of PPGs was reduced during their transport through conduits. Experimental results confirm that the size
reduction was caused by both dehydration and breakdown. On the
basis of the laboratory data, two correlations were developed to
quantitatively calculate the resistance factor and the stable injection pressure as a function of the particle strength, particle/opening ratio, and shear rate. This research provides significant insight
into designing better millimeter-sized particle-gel treatments
intended for use in large openings, including open fractures,
caves, worm holes, and conduits.

Introduction
Excess water production in oil fields is becoming a challenging
economic and environmental problem as more reservoirs mature.
An estimated average of 3 bbl of water is produced for each barrel
of oil produced worldwide (Bailey et al. 2000). It is estimated that
the total cost to separate, treat, and dispose of this water is approximately USD 50 billion per year (Hill et al. 2012). Water can flow
into the wellbore as a result of either near-wellbore problems or
reservoir-related problems (Seright et al. 2001). The mechanisms
that contribute to this undesired water production must be fully
understood before the appropriate treatment can be chosen. Undesirable water channeling, one of the primary reservoir conformance problems, is caused by reservoir heterogeneities that lead to
the development of high-permeability streaks. These streaks
include open fractures and fracture-like features, such as caves,
worm holes, and conduits (Smith et al. 2006). These high-conducC 2014 Society of Petroleum Engineers
Copyright V

This paper (SPE 169107) was accepted for presentation at the SPE Improved Oil Recovery
Symposium, Tulsa, 1216 April 2014, and revised for publication. Original manuscript
received for review 1 April 2014. Revised manuscript received for review 17 July 2014. Paper
peer approved 28 July 2014.

tivity features inside the reservoir occupy only a small fraction of

the reservoir but will capture a significant portion of injected
water. As a result, large amounts of oil remain unswept because a
large waterflood will bypass oil-rich unswept zones/areas.
Gel treatments proved to be a cost-effective chemical conformance-control technology to reduce the fluid flow in these
large-opening features. The application of these technologies can
not only control water production but also significantly increase
the oil production and extend the economic life of a reservoir.
Traditionally, in-situ bulk gels were used for this purpose. However, preformed particle gels (PPGs) recently have attracted much
attention because they can solve some of the problems associated
with in-situ gel systems, such as the dilution and dispersion of the
gelant and chromatographic separation of the gelant solution
(Coste et al. 2000; Chauveteau et al. 2001, 2003; Bai et al.
2007a,b). Commercial PPGs currently available include millimeter-sized particle gel (PPG), microgels, and submicron gel.
Their differences are mainly in particle size, swelling ratio, and
swelling time. The millimeter-sized particles are not only more
distinguishable but also more reliable than other types of particle
gels for plugging large-pore-opening features. It is estimated that
PPGs have been used to treat more than 5,000 wells (Bai et al.
2013).
The success of gel treatments depends heavily on the gels
ability to extrude through fractures and channels during the placement process (Seright 1999). Thus, understanding both the mechanism and the behavior of gel extrusion is the key to a successful
conformance-control treatment. Numerous studies were conducted to evaluate in-situ gel propagation through fractures.
Seright (1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2001) studied both bulk gel
placement and the mechanism behind gel propagation through
fracture systems. Liu and Seright (2000) identified a correlation
between gel rheology and the extrusion properties of gels in fractures. Ganguly et al. (2001) conducted a series of experiments to
determine the effects of fluid leakoff on gel strength when placed
in fractures. Sydansk et al. (2005) characterized the transport of
partially formed gels in fractures. Wang and Seright (2006) examined whether the use of rheology measurements to evaluate gel
properties in fractures is an acceptable substitute for extrusion
experiments as a way to reduce costs. Wilton and Asghari (2007)
worked to determine how to improve bulk gel placement and performance through fractures. They applied Cr (III) acetate preflush
to investigate whether a stable gel can be formed within a fracture
without gelant leakoff. McCool et al. (2009) investigated the
effect of shear on flow properties during the placement of gelants
in fractures. No one, however, has studied either the performance
or the mechanism of PPG extrusion and placement in conduit systems. The only study of PPG extrusion was conducted by Zhang
and Bai (2011), who investigated the effect of PPG extrusion
through fractures on the injectivity and plugging efficiency when
the fracture width was less than the gel-particle size.
The objective of this work was to conduct an in-depth examination of several factors that can have an important impact on the
PPG-extrusion mechanism and -placement performance in opening conduits. This paper intensively examines the effect of the
conduit inner diameter and brine concentration (PPG strength) on
the injectivity index, resistance factor, gel dehydration, particle/

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J169107 DOI: 10.2118/169107-PA Date: 30-October-14

No.
1
2
3
4

Brine Concentration
(%NaCl)
0 .05
0 .25
1
10

Stage:

PPG Concentration
(wt%)
0 .6 0
1 .2 5
2 .0
4 .0

Page: 2

Swelling
Ratio
16 5
80
50
25

Total Pages: 11

Gel Strength
(Pa)
515
657
870
1300

Table 1Swelling and gel-strength measurements of 30-mesh PPG.

opening ratio, gel washout, and plugging efficiency. It also discusses new correlations that were developed to predict the PPG
resistance factor and the initial stable injection pressure during gel
extrusion through conduit systems.
Experimental Description
Materials. Preformed Particle Gel (PPG). A superabsorbent
polymer was used as a PPG to conduct the experiments. The particle was synthesized with acrylamide, acrylic acid, and N, N0 methylenebisacrylamide by a free-radical process. Dry particles
with a mesh size of 30 were swollen in different concentrations of
NaCl brine (0.05, 0.25, 1, and 10%). The brine concentration was
carefully selected on the basis of the swelling ratio and the gel
strength after swelling, as shown in Table 1. PPG swollen in
lower-NaCl-concentration brine will have higher swelling ratio
and lower gel strength. PPG concentration was determined with
the initial weight of dry gel divided by the final weight of completely swollen gel. PPG concentration is changed as a result of
the brine-concentration effect.
Tubes. Tubes 5 ft (1.5 m) in length with varying internal
diameters (10.922, 3.048, 1.752, and 0.774 mm) were used to
emulate different conduit sizes. Three pressure taps were mounted
along the tube to monitor PPG-propagation performances. The internal diameters were carefully selected to be larger than, equal
to, and smaller than the swollen particles.
Microscope. A microscope was used to determine the particle
size before and after particle extrusion through the conduit models. An image-analysis technique was used to obtain the particlegel size distribution.
Rheoscope Device. Storage moduli (G0 ) for PPG prepared in
different brine concentrations were measured at room temperature
(approximately 23 C) with a rheoscope. The PPG strength was
measured before and after gel propagation into the conduit to
determine the effect of the extrusion process on strength. The sensor used for measurements is PP335 TiPoLO2 016 with a gap of
0.2 mm between the sensor and the plate. G0 were measured at a
frequency of 1 Hz for each sample.
Experimental Setup
Fig. 1 provides a schematic of the conduit model used to conduct
the experiments. This model contained a syringe pump that was
used to inject brine and gel through the accumulator into a 5-ft tube.
The tube was divided into three sections: The first two were 2 ft
long and the last section was 1 ft long. Effluent gel and brine were
both collected to evaluate the gels properties after the extrusion.
Experimental Procedure
Dry preformed particle gels (PPGs) of 30-mesh size were placed
in different-concentration brines and left overnight to swell fully.

Piston
Brine
DI water

Pressure Gauges

PPG
P1

P2

2 ft

P3

2 ft

1 ft

Syringe Pump
Tubing (5 ft) Effluent

Fig. 1Schematic of the conduit model used in this experiment.

A sieve was used to allow the swollen gel to separate from the
excess brine solution. The gel then was packed into a stainlesssteel accumulator so that it could be injected into a conduit model.
The gel-injection process at ambient temperature is summarized
as follows:
The PPGs were injected into different internal tubes at the
same designed velocity. Table 2 summarizes the velocities
used for the different inner diameters.
The gel initially was injected at a high velocity, which then
was reduced gradually for all experiments. The pressure
needed to be stable for each gel-injection velocity.
Following pressure stabilization, gel samples were taken for
each gel-injection velocity to measure gel strength and particle size.
Finally, when the gel-injection process was complete, the
same-concentration brine was injected into the tube filled
with particles from a low to a high velocity to determine gel
resistance to water flow.
Results and Analysis
Preformed particle gels (PPGs) swollen in four different-concentration brines were injected into three sizes of conduits at various
injection velocities to investigate the effect of brine concentration
(related to gel strength) on injectivity, the resistance factor, and
the threshold pressure. The resistance-factor and gel-injectionpressure data were used to develop new correlation models for
PPG to predict the resistance factor and the initial stable injection
pressure during gel extrusion in conduits.
Injectivity-Index-Calculation Results. An injectivity index was
obtained as a function of the brine concentration, injection velocity, and conduit inner diameter to observe the behavior of preformed particle gels (PPGs) that had been extruded through the
conduit systems. Fig. 2 shows the effect of the brine concentrations and gel-injection velocity on the gel-injection pressure
through three different sizes of conduits. At the same injection velocity, the gel-injection pressure increased as the brine concentration increased. This occurred because PPG swollen in low brine
concentration swelled more and became weaker than the PPG
swollen in high brine concentration. The gel-injection volume
required to achieve stable pressure is varied, depending on the
brine concentration and the conduit inner diameter. A large volume of gel was injected as the gel become stronger and the conduit inner diameter become smaller. For the conduit with the
inner diameter of 1.752 mm, the injected PPG pore volume (PV)
required to get stable pressure increased from 11.5 PV to 33.9 PV
when brine concentration increased from 0.05% NaCl to 10%
NaCl. The results also show that the gel-injection pressure
increased as the injection velocity increased. This increase in the
gel-injection pressure became insignificant when the gel-injection
velocity exceeded 500 ft/D. This suggests that the gel-injection
pressure did not increase linearly through all of the gel-injection
velocities, but rather tended to reach a plateau after a certain
injection velocity. This insignificant increase most likely occurred
because of the gel slip that can occur when extruding through conduits at a high velocity (Seright 1997). Our results were consistent
with Seright (1997, 1998) for gel extrusion through tubes in which
he observed that gel-injection pressure became independent of
injection velocity after a specific velocity value.
The data from Fig. 2 were used to obtain the gel-injectivity
index through the conduit systems. PPGs with a high injectivity
index required a lower injection pressure to be propagated through

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J169107 DOI: 10.2118/169107-PA Date: 30-October-14

Conduit Inner
Diameter
(mm)

Injection Flow
Rate (cm3/min)

10.922

3 9 .2
2 9 .2
1 9 .2
9 .8
4 .9
3 .9
1 .9
1
0 .2
3
2 .3
1 .5
0 .7 5
0 .3 7
0 .3 0
0 .1 5
0 .0 7
0 .0 1
1
0 .7 5
0 .5
0 .2 5
0 .1 2 5
0 .1
0 .0 5
0 .0 2 5
0 .0 0 5

3.048

1.752

1 ,9 7 9
1 ,4 7 6
970
495
247
198
99
49
10
1 ,9 2 8
1 ,4 4 6
964
482
241
193
96
48
10
1 ,9 3 1
1 ,4 4 8
966
483
241
193
96
48
10

Total Pages: 11

Resistance-Factor (Fr) -Calculation Results. In analogy to a

porous-media experiment, the Fr was estimated from the injectivity index and the geometry of the conduit: QL/ADP for the brine
and the gel injection. One can define it as the ratio of the particlegel-injection pressure drop to the brine-injection pressure drop at
the same flow rate, and one can calculate it from the following
equation:
Fr DpPPG =Dpbrine ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Table 2Gel velocities designed for each conduit inner diameter.

the conduit. In this study, the injectivity index increased as the

brine concentrations decreased, as shown in Fig. 3. This likely
occurred as a result of the swelling-ratio effect. PPGs swollen in
low brine concentrations contain a high percentage of aqueous
Gel-Injection Pressure (psi)

Page: 3

phase and a low percentage of solid phase. This composition

allows PPGs swollen in low brine concentrations to be more
injectable than PPGs swollen in high brine concentrations. These
results also indicate that the injectivity index increased as both the
conduit inner diameter and the velocity increased. For the conduit
size, this behavior is easy to understand, but for the velocity, this
relationship occurred because the gel followed the shear-thinning
or pseudoplastic behavior in the conduit systems.

Injection Velocity
(ft/D)

1000

Stage:

10% NaCl
0.25% NaCl

where Q is the injection flow rate, L is the length of the conduit,

DpPPG is the PPG-injection-pressure drop, and Dpbrine is the brineinjection-pressure drop before PPG placement.
Effect of Brine Concentration and Conduit Inner Diameter
on Fr. PPGs swollen in four different concentrations of brines
were injected into three conduits at various injection velocities to
determine the effect of brine concentration and conduit inner diameter on the Fr. The injection began with the highest injection
velocity until the injection pressure became stable. Then, the
injection continued at reduced velocities. A stable pressure was
recorded at each injection velocity. Fig. 4 indicates that for all
gel-velocity injections, Fr increased as the brine concentration
and conduit inner diameter increased. The Fr measured across all
three conduits became an independent factor on velocity when it
exceeded 500 ft/D. The Fr value for the gel swollen in 10% NaCl
extruded in 10.922 mm was 99,133; it then decreased
1% NaCl
0.05% NaCl

100

10

1
0

1000

2000

3000

Gel-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

1000

2000

3000

Gel-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 1.752 mm

Conduit inner diameter 3.048 mm

1000

2000

3000

Gel-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 10.922 mm

Fig. 2PPG-injection pressure as a function of brine concentration and conduit diameter.

Injectivity Index (cm3/min/psi)

10
1

10% NaCl

1% NaCl

0.25% NaCl

0.05% NaCl

0.1
0.01
0.001
0.0001
1

100

10000

Gel-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 1.752 mm

100

10000

Gel-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 3.048 mm

100

10000

Gel-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 10.922 mm

Fig. 3Injectivity-index results.

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Stage:

Page: 4

Total Pages: 11

1000000

Resistance Factor

100000

10% NaCl

1% NaCl

0.25% NaCl

0.05% NaCl

10000

1000

100
1

100

10000

100

Conduit inner diameter 1.752 mm

10000

Gel-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Gel-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 3.048 mm

100

10000

Gel-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 10.922 mm

Fig. 4Resistance factor as a function of brine concentration and conduit inner diameter.

substantially to 3,364 as the velocity increased from 10 to 500 ft/

D. However, as the velocity increased more than 500 ft/D, the Fr
values decreased only slightly during the gel-injection process.
Gel Threshold Pressure vs. Particle/Opening Ratio. The particle/opening ratio is defined as the ratio of the gel-particle diameter (Dg) before the extrusion to the pore-opening conduit diameter
(Dp). The 30-mesh preformed particle gels swollen in differentconcentration brines had different sizes and strengths, as shown in
Table 1. The gel threshold pressure (Pt) is the minimum pressure
required to initiate gel flow through the conduit. Fig. 5 illustrates
the relationship between the threshold pressure and the particle/
opening ratio. Strong gel requires a higher threshold pressure than
weak gel in order for it to pass through an opening. The result
obtained agrees with Seright (1997, 1998), who observed that
some threshold pressure was required before the gel would
extrude through a given opening size. The data also suggest that
when the particle/opening ratio exceeded 2:1, the threshold pressure for both strong and weak gel increased much less compared
to when the ratio was below 2:1. This may have occurred for two
reasons. First, the swollen-particle dehydration during the extrusion process may have reduced the size of the particles as the ratio
increased. Second, the gel particles broke into small pieces, which
may lead to smaller increases in the threshold pressure with
increasing particle/opening ratio.
Stabilized-Gel Injection Pressure vs. Particle/Opening Ratio.
After the preformed particle gels passed through the conduit, gel
was injected continuously until the injection pressure stabilized.
The injection pressure of the stable gel was measured as a function of the gel strength and particle/opening ratio, as shown in

Threshold Pressure (psi)

100

10

1
515 Pa Gel strength
657 Pa Gel strength
870 Pa Gel strength
1300 Pa Gel strength

0.1

2
4
6
Particle-Opening Ratio (Dg/Dp)

Correlation Models. To have correlation models that can predict

the resistance factor (apparent viscosity) and stabilized injection
pressure for preformed particle gels (PPGs) during gel treatments
is important to quantify the gel-transport process. Such models
not only can be inserted into a simulator to yield better predictions
of PPG performance, but also can provide results more quickly,
because conducting all of these experiments in the laboratory
would be time consuming and would require a great amount of
effort to achieve reliable results.
PPG Resistance-Factor (Fr) Model. Polymer or polymer-gel
viscosity is often expressed as a function of shear rate; therefore,
we tried to correlate the Fr with shear rate. Here, we use the maximum shear rate at the pore wall to obtain shear-rate values, and
the equation is given as follows (Zaitoun et al. 2012):
c 8v=D; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
where c is the shear rate, v is the superficial velocity, and D is the
conduit inner diameter.
The data in Fig. 4 were reorganized to Fig. 7 after converting
velocity to shear rate. One can see that all data are in the same line
for the particle prepared by the same-concentration brine even
though their particle/opening ratios are different, indicating that Fr
was independent of conduit inner diameter. This phenomenon is
not very surprising because we know that the polymer-gel viscosity
is a function of shear rate but does not depend on the gap between
cylinder and spindle when we measure the bulk-gel viscosity.
A good fit was noticed with the power-law equation for Fr
results plotted against shear rate. The fit is even better with a particle/opening ratio greater than unity or equal to unity. Therefore,
the developed model will include the data for particle/opening
ratios greater than and equal to unity. One can express the Fr
obtained as a function of the shear rate as
Fr McE ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

0.01
0

Fig. 6. The results show that the stable injection pressure

increased with the gel strength and particle/opening ratio. The gel
strength had a significant effect on the stability of the injection
pressure, more than did the particle/opening ratio. The gel-injection pressure increased by approximately 10 times (100 to 1,320
psi) when the gel strength approximately doubled from 515 to
1300 Pa. The injection pressure only tripled (191.7 to 590 psi)
when the particle/opening ratio approximately doubled from 0.72
to 1.26 at the gel strength of 1300 Pa.

Fig. 5Effect of particle/opening ratio on threshold pressure.

where M and E are constant coefficients related to brine concentration and particle/opening ratio; both were obtained from gel
extrusion through conduits. Table 3 summarizes the results
obtained for both M and E for each brine concentration.
To develop a general correlation that one can use to predict the
Fr for all brine concentrations, both constant coefficients M and E

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Page: 5

Total Pages: 11

The constant coefficient (E) was fitted with the R2 of 96%:

10000
Stable Injection Pressure (psi)

Stage:

E 0:6001 C0:01 : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
1000

Then, one can write the general form of the correlation (which
one can use to predict the Fr in conduit systems) as
Fr 3831:3 C0:2709 c0:6001

100
515 Pa Gel strength
657 Pa Gel strength
870 Pa Gel strength
1300 Pa Gel strength

10

: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

One can also express the obtained correlation as a function of the

gel strength. Table 1 clearly indicates that the gel strength
depends heavily on the brine concentrations; the following correlation was fitted with R2 of 99.7% to express the relationship
between brine concentrations and gel strength:

1
0

C 0:01

C 3  1017 G

0 5:6391

: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Particle-Opening Ratio (Dg/Dp)

Fig. 6Stabilized injection pressure as a function of particle/
opening ratio and gel strength.

Then, one can modify the correlation to be a function of gel

strength (G0 ):
Fr 3831:3  3  1017 G05:6391 0:2709
31017 G0 5:6391  0:01

need to be determined. Table 3 indicates that E was not affected

very much by brine concentration, but M was strongly affected.
To obtain these coefficients, both constants were plotted as a function of the brine concentration (C), as shown in Fig. 8. The
power-law equation was used again to obtain the proper fitting
correlation for the coefficients.
The constant coefficient (M) was fitted with correlation coefficient squared (R2) of 99%:

PPG Stabilized-Injection-Pressure Model. The data in Fig. 6

were drawn in log-log scale, as shown in Fig. 9, and were fitted
well by use of the following power-law equation:

M 3831:3 C0:2709 : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

where Pinj is the initial stable injection pressure in psi, and a and
b are coefficient factors obtained for PPGs extruded through

 c0:6001

10000

Resistance Factor

10000

Resistance Factor

100000

Dg/Dp = 0.44
Dg/Dp = 1.6
Dg/Dp = 2.78

100

10
0.01

0.1

10

1000

10
0.01

100

100000

10000

10000

Resistance Factor

100000

1000
Dg/Dp = 0.29
Dg/Dp = 1.04

10

100

1000
Dg/Dp = 0.2

100

Dg/Dp = 0.72
Dg/Dp = 1.26

Dg/Dp = 1.82
10
0.01

0.1

Shear Rate (1/sec)

0.25% brine concentration

0.05% brine concentration

Resistance Factor

Dg/Dp = 0.32
Dg/Dp = 1.16
Dg/Dp = 2.03

100

Shear Rate (1/sec)

100

            8

Pinj aDg =Dp b ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

100000

1000

10
0.1

10

Shear Rate (1/sec)

1% brine concentration

100

0.01

0.1

10

100

Shear Rate (1/sec)

10% brine concentration

Fig. 7Resistance factor for gel swollen in brine concentrations as a function of both shear rate and particle/opening ratio.
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Stage:

M
1 ,6 18 .4
2 , 9 17 .9
3 , 64 3 . 7
7 , 1 28 .5

Brine Concentration (%NaCl)

0.05
0.25
1
10

Page: 6

E
0.62
0.61
0 . 59 6
0 .58 8

Total Pages: 11

R
0. 9 8
0. 9 7
0. 9 8
0. 9 6

Table 3Fitting equations for Fr for each brine concentration.

10000

0.64

0.62

1000

M = 3831.3C 0.2709
R = 0.986

100

0.6
E = 0.6001C 0.01
R = 0.9608

0.58

0.56

10
0.01

0.1

10

Brine Concentrations (%)

0.01

0.1
1
10
Brine concentrations (%)

Fig. 8Shows constant coefficients (M) and (E) as a function of brine concentration.

different particle/opening ratios. Table 4 shows the results

obtained for these two factors for the different gel strengths.
With fitting equations obtained for the various particle/opening
ratios and gel strengths, one can evaluate PPG stable injection
pressure quantitatively to obtain a better prediction of the PPG
injection pressure in conduit systems.
To develop a general correlation that can predict the PPG stable injection pressure for all gel strengths, another regression
analysis was performed to correlate these two coefficients with
the gel strengths, as shown in Fig. 10. Then, a and b were substituted into the new general fitting equations.
Finally, the general form of the new correlation that can be
used to predict the initial stable injection pressure in conduit systems can be written as
Pinj 2  106 G02:5988 Dg =Dp 2:3561 G

0 0:053

: . . . . . . . 10

Resistance to Water Flow After Gel Placement in

Conduits. After gel placement within the conduit system, brine
was injected with different velocities, from low to high, to extrude
the gel inside a conduit. In this way, four parameters were systematically obtained to characterize particle-blocking behavior to

Stable Injection Pressure (psi)

100000

515 Pa Gel strength

657 Pa Gel strength
870 Pa Gel strength
1300 Pa Gel strength

10000
1000
100
10
1
0.1

10

Particle-Opening Ratio (Dg/Dp)

Fig. 9Stable injection pressure as a function of particle/opening ratio and gel strength in log-log scale.

water. These four sequence parameters include the pressure-gradient peak (PGP), critical water breakthrough pressure (Pcw), residual resistance factor (Frrw), and plugging efficiency (E).
PGP. PGP is defined as the pressure gradient at which the gel
began to move and wash out from the conduit as a result of brine
injection. Fig. 11 provides an example of the brine-injection-pressure gradient at each section through the gel swollen in a 0.05%concentration brine within a conduit inner diameter of 10.922 mm.
Brine was injected through the gel at a velocity of 9.89 ft/D. Gel
washout and water movement were measured by observing the
pressure changes in all three sections, and monitoring both the
effluent produced gel and brine. In all experiments, we noticed that
the injection-pressure gradient in all sections increased sharply
until reaching a certain peak, at which point it began to decline.
This peak indicates the point at which gel failure and washout
began to occur in each section (Seright 2003). After each peak, the
pressure gradient declined significantly before becoming stable in
all sections. In the first section, the peak occurred at 1.85 psi/ft after a 0.03-pore-volume (PV) injection of brine. In the second section, the PGP occurred at 1.05 psi/ft after injecting 0.04 PV of
brine. In the last section, the peak occurred at 0.53 psi/ft after
injecting 0.05 PV of brine. Then, after injecting 0.15 PV of brine,
the water-pressure gradient in all sections became stable. The pressure-gradient variations in all three sections exhibited a difference
in gel movement and washout along the conduit systems.
The conduit inner diameter was checked visually after the
brine-injection process was complete. For the PPG swollen in
0.05% NaCl, approximately 20% of gel was found remaining
inside the conduit whereas for the PPG swollen in 10% NaCl,
approximately 70% of gel was found remaining inside the same
conduit-inner-diameter size. This remaining volume suggests that
the conduit was filled with a concentrated immobile gel.
Table 5 provides a summary and comparison of the results
obtained from the first section for brines of all concentrations.
These results include the brine volume injected, as associated
with its pressure gradients, for gels placed inside a conduit within
an opening size of 3.0488 mm. The results suggest that gel swollen in high brine concentrations exhibit more stability inside the
conduit than gel swollen in low brine concentrations when subjected to the same injection velocity.
Table 6 summarizes the results obtained from the injection of
brine through gel swollen in 10%-concentration brine for three
conduit inner diameters. Differing from the results obtained in a
large conduit opening, these results indicate that gel washout

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Stage:

a
24.669
61.055
90.713
305.49

Gel Strength (Pa)

515
657
870
1300

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R
0.99
0.99
0.99
0.98

b
1.6987
1.6686
1.6484
1.6156

Table 4Fitting equations for stable injection pressure.

1000

1.71
a = 2E06G`2.5988
R = 0.9803

b = 2.3561G`0.053
R = 0.9897

1.68

100

1.65

1.62

1.59

10
100

1000

10000

Gel Strength (Pa)

100

1000

10000

Gel Strength (Pa)

Fig. 10Shows correlation coefficients (a) and (b) as a function of gel strength.

began to occur in a small conduit inner diameter when both a

high-injection-pressure gradient and large volume of water were
applied. Gel washout began to occur through an opening of 1.752
mm when 1.17 PV of brine was injected, and the pressure gradient
reached 245.3 psi/ft. In contrast, the gel injected through a larger
opening size (10.922 mm) began to move when 0.16 PV of brine
was injected and the pressure gradient was only 4.9 psi/ft. These
findings indicate that less gel movement occurred in smaller conduit diameters than in larger conduit diameters.
Critical PCW. PCW is defined as the pressure at which the first
drop of water can be seen from the outlet. Fig. 12 provides information about this variable as a function of both the brine concentration and conduit inner diameter. The small water-breakthrough
pressure indicates that water could start propagating easily
through the gel. This result suggests that as the gel became stronger (swollen in high brine concentration), the water-breakthrough
pressure increased. Differences in water breakthrough are clear
when comparing weak gel (swollen in low brine concentrations)
to strong gel. Fig. 12a shows the water-breakthrough measurement for gel swollen in different-concentration brines when gel
was placed within a 3.0488-mm opening. When gel was swollen
in 0.05% brine, water was able to pass through it at 8.8 psi. Water
could not pass through gel swollen in 10% brine until the pressure
reached 46 psi. Fig. 12b shows the results obtained for water
breakthrough through gel swollen in a 0.05% brine concentration

Pressure Gradient (psi/ft)

section one
section two
section three

1.5
1
0.5
0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

Brine-Injection Volume (PV)

Fig. 11Brine-injection gradient through gel in three sections

for 10.922-mm conduit.

as a function of different conduit sizes. Water was less likely to

pass through a smaller pore opening than a larger opening. Water
passed through a 10.922-mm opening at a pressure of 2.1 psi, and
through a 1.752-mm opening at a pressure of 60.2 psi.
Frrw and E. Frrw is defined as the ratio of water-phase permeability before and after particle-gel treatment, and E refers to the
percentage of permeability reduction, which one can calculate
from E (%) [1 (1 / Frrw)]  100. The stabilized water-injection
pressures at different velocities were used to calculate Frrw and E.
Fig. 13 shows the residual resistance factor as a function of brine
concentration and brine velocity. Frrw increased as the gel
strength and conduit inner diameter increased. Fig. 14 shows the
gel-plugging efficiency as a function of the brine concentration
and brine velocity. The preformed-particle-gel (PPG) plugging efficiency increased when a strong gel was selected as a plugging
agent for large conduit sizes. The results suggest that gel swollen
in 10% brine can provide a 97% plugging, as compared to 76%
plugging for gel swollen in 0.05% brine for a conduit with an
inner diameter of 1.752 mm. This percentage increased to 98%
for the former and 93% for the latter when gel was placed into a
large opening (10.922 mm). These findings indicate that the plugging efficiency of the PPG did not decrease significantly in spite
of the gel washout occurring after gel placement.
Discussion
When investigating particle injection, many researchers are interested in the passing ratio, which is the ratio of the particle size to
the pore-throat size at which the particle can pass through a constriction. For stiff, hard particles, this question is easy to answer.
Extensive experimental results have shown that stiff particles can
pass through pore throats only if their particle sizes are less than 1/
9 of the pore size. However, swollen gel particles are deformable
and breakable, so they can pass through porous media much easier
than stiff particles. Swollen gel-particle transport mechanism
through porous media exhibits different patterns of behavior (Bai
et al. 2007b). Table 7 provides the ratio of particle size to opening
size (Dg/Dp), as well as the particle size before and after extrusion.
Weak particles still were able to transport through the opening
when the Dg/Dp was as high as 6.3 but required a relatively high
injection pressure-gradient of 12.5 psi/ft to do so. These results are
consistent with Seright (1997) in which he observed that pressure
gradient increased significantly with decreased tube diameter.
The results shown in Table 7 indicate that gel-particle size was
reduced after extrusion when Dg/Dp is larger than, equal to, and

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J169107 DOI: 10.2118/169107-PA Date: 30-October-14

Brine Concentration
(%NaCl)
0.05
0.25
1
10

Stage:

Brine-Injected
Volume for Peak (PV)
0. 1 2
0. 3 1
0.52
0 . 67

Page: 8

Total Pages: 11

PGP Through Brine

Injection (psi/ft)
4 . 25
7 . 85
12.05
2 5. 6

Table 5Effect of brine concentrations on gel movement in conduit size of 3.0488 mm at 9.62 ft/D.
Brine-Injected
Volume for Peak (PV)
0.16
0.67
1.17

Inner Diameter (mm)

10.922
3. 048
1. 752

PGP Through
Water Injection (psi/ft)
4.9
25.6
24 5. 3

Water-Breakthrough Pressure (psi)

Water-Breakthrough Pressure (psi)

Table 6Effect of conduit inner diameter on gel extrusion for gel swollen in 10% NaCl.

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0.05

0.25

70
60
50
40
30
20
10

10

0
10.922

Brine Concentration (% NaCl)

3.0488

1.752

Conduit Inner Diameter (mm)

(a) Conduit inner diameter 3.0488 mm

(b) Gel swollen in 0.05% brine concentration

Fig. 12Critical water-breakthrough pressure as a function of brine concentration and conduit inner diameter.

Residual-Resistance Factor

1000000
0.05% NaCl

100000

10% NaCl

10000
1000
100
10
1
1

100

10000

Conduit inner diameter 1.752 mm

100

10000

100
10000
Brine-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Brine-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Brine-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 3.048 mm

Conduit inner diameter 10.922 mm

Fig. 13Residual resistance factor as a function of brine concentration and conduit inner diameter.

Plugging Efficiency (%)

120
100
80
60
0.05% NaCl
40

10% NaCl

20
0
0

1000

2000

3000

Brine-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 1.752 mm

1000

2000

3000

Brine-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 3.048 mm

1000

2000

3000

Brine-Injection Velocity (ft/D)

Conduit inner diameter 10.922 mm

Fig. 14Plugging efficiency as a function of brine concentration and conduit inner diameter.
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Gel Strength
(Pa)

Gel-Particle Size
Before Extrusion
(mm)

ConduitOpening
Size (mm)

Dg /Dp

Gel-Particle
Size After
Extrusion
(mm)

Gel-ParticleSize
Decrease
(%)

515

4.88

657

3.56

870

3.2

1300

2.21

10.922
3.048
1.752
0.774
10.922
3.048
1.752
10.922
3.048
1.752
10.922
3.048
1.752
0.774

0.44
1.60
2.78
6.3
0.32
1.16
2.03
0.29
1.04
1.82
0.20
0.72
1.26
2.85

3.57
2.58
2.391
0.902
2.90
2.17
2.19
2.30
1.99
1.87
1.945
1.808
1.923
1.73

26.8
47.13
51
81.51
18.5
39.04
38.4
28.1
37.81
41.5
11.99
18.19
12.98
21.7

GelThreshold
Pressure
Gradient
(psi/ft)
0.1
0.65
1.1
12.5
0.2
0.85
2.1
0.21
1.2
2.8
0.25
2.3
3.5
26.2

Gel-Injection
Stable Pressure
(psi)

6.8
51
112
680
9.2
76
203
11.5
105
230
20.1
191.7
590
1320

Table 7Particle/opening-ratio measurements results.

NORMDIST

Before Extrusion
1.4

0.774 mm Conduit inner diameter

1.2

1.752 mm Conduit inner diameter

3.048 mm Conduit inner diameter

Before Extrusion

10.922 mm Conduit inner diameter

0.8
0.6
0.4

10.922 mm

1.752 mm

3.048 mm

0.774 mm

0.2
0
0

9 10

PPG Radius (mm)

Fig. 15Preformed-particle-gel size distributions and images for gel with strength of 515 Pa before and after extrusion.

even smaller than unity. Fig. 15 shows particle-size measurement

before and after extrusion for the sample with gel strength of 515
Pa. The weak gel particles experienced a significant decrease in
particle size, up to 81.5%, when they moved through conduit with
a 0.774-mm opening for Dg/Dp equal to 6.3. However, a strong gel
decreased only by 21.7% when moving through the same conduit
size but with Dg/Dp equal to 2.85. On the basis of previous knowledge (Bai et al. 2007b), this particle-size reduction could be
explained by three reasons: breakdown, dehydration, or both. To
determine if the particle-size reduction was caused by gel dehydration, we collected effluent particle-gel samples from a 3.048-mm
conduit, in which Dg/Dp are smaller than and equal to unity, meas-

2000

515 Pa Gel strength

657 Pa Gel strength
870 Pa Gel strength
1300 Pa Gel strength

60
50

Storage Modulus (G`) (Pa)

Gel-Volume Increase (%)

70

ured their strength, and also placed them in the same-concentration

brine to observe their reswelling. Fig. 16 shows how much the gel
volume increased at different injection rates for four differentstrength gels. The results show that the weakest particles can
regain 50% of water, whereas the strong gels can regain only
approximately 20% of water, indicating that weak gel can be dehydrated more than strong gel during conformance-control treatments. In other words, the weakest particles shrank 50% of their
original volume whereas the strongest ones did shrank 20% when
they passed through the conduit. The strength measurement taken
after extrusion, shown in Fig. 17, also indicates that the gel
became more concentrated because of water loss from its cluster.

40
30
20

515 Pa

657 Pa

870 Pa

1300 Pa

1500

1000

500

10
0

0
0

1
2
3
Gel-Injection Rate (mL/min)

Fig. 16Particle volume increased after soaking in same brine.

Gel-Injection Rate (mL/min)

Fig. 17Particle-storage moduli (G0 ) after extrusion.

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J169107 DOI: 10.2118/169107-PA Date: 30-October-14

When we compared the significant reduction in particle size to the

gel-particle volume shrinkage, we observed that gel-particle size
reduction was caused by both particle breakdown and dehydration.
Conclusion
Numerous factors that affect preformed-particle-gel (PPG) extrusion and blocking efficiency through conduit systems were extensively examined in this study. The mechanisms associated with
gel propagation and placement, such as dehydration and gel washout, were investigated during the experiments. The following conclusions can be drawn from the research:
PPG-injection pressure increased as the brine concentration and
injection velocity increased. This increase, however, after a certain velocity level was reached, became unsubstantial.
The resistance factor (Fr) increased when the gel strength
increased and/or when the conduit inner diameter became
wider, but it decreased if the velocity increased.
Both the gel-threshold pressure and the stable injection pressure
increased as the particle/opening ratio increased. Both pressures, however, would not increase significantly after a specific
ratio value was reached. In addition, the gel strength affected
the gel-injection pressure more than did the particle/opening
ratio.
Two new empirical correlation models were successfully developed to predict both PPG Fr and stable injection pressure.
The Fr measurements are not dependent of the particle/opening
ratio when it is measured against shear rate.
PPG blocking performance increased as the gel strength and
conduit inner diameter increased. This finding reveals that the
conduit-size conductivity can significantly decrease if a strong
gel is selected for the conformance treatment.
Weak gels can be injected into large particle/opening ratio with
relative small increase in injection pressure compared to strong
gels. Weak gels break into small sizes, so they are able to pass
through.
Weak gels tend to dehydrate more than strong gels. The gel
becomes stronger after the extrusion process, as a result of the
dehydration mechanism.
PPG size can be reduced during transportation through conduits, by dehydration and by breakdown.
Nomenclature
A cross-sectional area, cm2
a, b coefficient factors, dimensionless
C brine concentration, %NaCl
D inner-conduit diameter, mm
Dg/Dp particle/opening ratio, dimensionless
E plugging efficiency, %
Fr resistance factor, dimensionless
Frrw residual-resistance factor to water, dimensionless
G0 storage moduli, Pa
L length of conduit, cm
M, E constant coefficients, dimensionless
Pinj initial stable injection pressure, psi
Q injection flow rate, cm3/s
DPbrine brine-injection-pressure drop, psi
DpPPG preformed-particle-gel-injection-pressure drop, psi
DP differential pressure, atm
c shear rate, 1/sec
v superficial velocity, ft/D
Acknowledgments
Funding for this project is provided by RPSEA authorized by the
US Energy Policy Act of 2005. RPSEA (www.rpsea.org) is a nonprofit corporation with the mission of providing a stewardship
role in ensuring the focused research, development, and deployment of safe and environmentally responsible technology that can
effectively deliver hydrocarbons from domestic resources to the
citizens of the United States. The first author wishes to thank the
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Libya for

Stage:

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its support. The corresponding author for the paper is Baojun Bai,
Lester Birbeck Chair Professor at Missouri University of Science
and Technology.
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Abdulmohsin Imqam, SPE, is a PhD degree candidate at Missouri University of Science and Technology majoring in petroleum engineering. He holds graduate research and teaching
assistant positions. Previously, Imqam was a reservoir engineer
at the Suncor Energy Company. He has 4 years of experience
working in oil-industry companies. Imqam research interests
include reservoir engineering, enhanced oil recovery (EOR),
and conformance-control treatments. He holds MS degrees in
petroleum engineering from Tripoli University and in engineering management from Missouri University of Science and
Technology.
Baojun Bai, SPE, is an associate professor of petroleum engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. He
holds the Lester R. Birbeck endowed Chair position. Previously,
Bai was a reservoir engineer and head of the conformancecontrol team at the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Petro China. He also was a post-doc-

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toral scholar at the California Institute of Technology and

graduate research assistant at the New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center for EOR projects. Bai has nearly 20
years of experience in the area of EOR, especially in gel treatments. He holds PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and in petroleum geology from China University of GeoscienceBeijing.
Bai has published more than 80 papers in the area of EOR
methods and application. He serves on the JPT Editorial Committee and is a technical editor for SPE Journal and SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering.
Mustafa Al Ramadan, SPE, is an MS degree student at Missouri
University of Science and Technology majoring in petroleum
engineering. His research interests include EOR and conformance-control treatments. Ramadan holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum
and Minerals.
Mingzhen Wei, SPE, is an assistant professor of petroleum engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. She
was an assistant professor in petroleum engineering at China
University of Geoscience before she started studies at New
Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in pursuit of a PhD
degree in computer science in 2000. Wei holds BS and MS
degrees in petroleum engineering from China University of Petroleum. She has expertise in data management and data
mining and in numerical simulation.
Mojdeh Delshad, SPE, is a research professor in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and vice president of Ultimate EOR LLC.
She holds MS and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from
the University of Texas at Austin. Delshads research interests
include reservoir engineering, modeling petrophysical properties, simulation of chemical and CO2 EOR processes, and numerical simulation of CO2 storage in saline aquifers.
Kamy Sepehrnoori is the Bank of America Professor at the
Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the
University of Texas at Austin. His research interests and teaching
include computational methods, reservoir simulation, parallel
processing, EOR modeling, and inverse modeling. Sepehrnoori
holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering, an MS degree
in engineering mechanics, and a PhD degree in petroleum engineering, all from the University of Texas at Austin.

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