Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and

Environmental Effects

ISSN: 1556-7036 (Print) 1556-7230 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ueso20

Chemical Flooding for Enhanced Recovery

Q. Yu , H. Jiang , Y. Song , Z. Yi & C. Zhang
To cite this article: Q. Yu , H. Jiang , Y. Song , Z. Yi & C. Zhang (2012) Chemical Flooding for
Enhanced Recovery, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects,
34:5, 478-483, DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2011.592917
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2011.592917

Published online: 19 Jan 2012.

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Date: 23 December 2015, At: 22:14

Energy Sources, Part A, 34:478483, 2012

Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1556-7036 print/1556-7230 online
DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2011.592917

Chemical Flooding for Enhanced Recovery

Q. YU,1 H. JIANG,1 Y. SONG,2 Z. YI,3 and C. ZHANG4

Downloaded by [Universiti Teknologi Malaysia] at 22:14 23 December 2015

MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering and College of Petroleum

Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China
2
Troy University, Troy, Alabama, USA
3
Shengli Oil Production Research Institute, China
4
No. 3 Oil Production Plant of Dagang Oilfield Company in CNPC, China,
Tianjin, China
Abstract Chemical flooding is an important enhancing recovery technology. Displacement mechanisms of different displacement agents were dissimilar. There were
some experiments finished to research the effect of chemical flooding. After evaluation of displacement systems, recoveries of all formulas were determined and
the recovery contour diagram was completed. Recoveries obtained in experiments
have been compared and influences of several chemicals on recovery have been
analyzed. Experimental results showed that sweep efficiency should be more important
in enhancing recovery than displacement efficiency. Oil recovery of formulas including
alkali would not be good, because alkali led to low viscosity of displacement agents.
Keywords combination flooding, oil recovery, polymer flooding, surfactant flooding,
ternary component chart

Introduction
Chemical flooding could enhance oil recovery after water flooding. Chemical flooding
includes unitary flooding, binary flooding, and ternary flooding with several materials,
such as polymer, surfactant, and alkali.
Polymer solution could increase viscosity of water greatly, reduce the water-oil
mobility ratio, and raise sweep efficiency (Qing et al., 2011). It was thought, traditionally,
that the interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water was similar to the IFT between oil
and a polymer solution. So polymers could only increase viscosity of injected water and
do nothing for displacement efficiency (Needham and Doe, 1987; De Melo et al., 2005).
Recently, many experiments have been carried out to find that polymer flooding was able
to improve not only sweep efficiency but also displacement efficiency. Polymer molecules
could raise displacement efficiency by pulling residual oil drops out of a rock surface
(Demin and Jiecheng, 2000; Hongfang and Demin, 2002). However, the main mechanism
of polymer flooding is still to increase viscosity of water to raise sweep efficiency.
Alkali could react with petroleum acids to produce surfactant, which would reduce
interfacial tension easily and raise displacement efficiency. At the same time, the price of
alkali was low and the affection of alkali was obvious. However, the use of alkali would
Address correspondence to Qun Yu, MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering and
College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, 18 Fuxue Road, Changping,
Beijing 102249, China. E-mail: yq_upc@126.com

478

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Chemical Flooding for Enhanced Recovery

479

lead to plenty of questions, such as scale and low permeability because of the movement
of clay (Cheng and Zengmin, 2002).
Surfactant is able to lower the interfacial tension between oil and water and improve
displacement efficiency effectively (Donghong et al., 2002). But surfactant could not
increase sweep efficiency obviously. If there were some areas that have been swept by
water flooding, surfactant could not increase oil recovery in those areas.
Combination flooding could increase not only sweep efficiency but also displacement
efficiency. But there is still a lot of work to do in researching the mechanism of
combination flooding (Shangfa et al., 2006; Ruixia et al., 2006).
A lot of physical simulation experiments have been finished to compare oil recovery
of unitary flooding and combination flooding. Some discussions have been made to
analyze the affection of every component in enhancing recovery in this article. All of
this would provide a lot of data for researching mechanisms of chemical flooding.

Materials
The following materials were used in the experiments:
Oil: The density was 820 kg/m3 , the viscosity was 45 mPa
s (7.34 s 1 );
Brine: The salinity was 860.3 mg/L;
PS: The surfactant was a kind of anionic surfactant that was petroleum sulfonate;
HPAM: The polymer was a partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, where the degree of
hydrolysis was 26.4% and the molecular weight was 952:1  104 ;
Alkali: NaOH.

Determination of IFT and Viscosity

Several kinds of surfactant solution and alkali solution with different mass concentrations
have been made. The interfacial tension between oil and surfactant solution and alkali
solution has been determined by Texas-500. The viscosity of the solution has been
obtained by Brookfield DV-III under a shear ratio of 7.34 s 1 . All of the experiments
have been carried out at 60C.
Single-core models have been used in physical simulation experiments. Every core
had a diameter of 2.5 cm and a length of 20 cm. The permeability of the core was in the
range of 0.30.5 m2 .
First of all, cores have been saturated with brine. After aging time (12 h), oil has been
injected into these cores saturated with brine until the cores reached the connate water
saturation. After aging time, brine was injected into the cores saturated with oil until the
water cut reached 0.98. Then 0.3 VP (VP is all of the volume of the pores in one core) of
chemical displacement agents has been injected into the cores. After that, water would
be injected into the cores until the water cut reached 0.98 again. The injecting velocity
of all kinds of fluid was 1 ml/min. All of the experiments have been finished at 60C.

Results and Discussion

Interfacial tension between oil and surfactant solution has also been determined. The
results of experiments showed that when the mass fraction of the surfactant solution was
0.003, the interfacial tension reached the lowest value.

480

Q. Yu et al.

Interfacial tension between oil and alkali solution has also been determined. The
results of experiments showed that when mass fraction of the alkali solution was 0.013,
the interfacial tension reached the lowest value.
Polymer Flooding Experiments Have Been Finished

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Some polymer solutions with different mass fractions have been used and incremental
recovery (water flooding recovery before combination flooding is subtracted from water
flooding recovery after combination flooding) has been determined. Incremental recovery
rose until the mass fraction of HPAM reached 0.0011. After that, incremental recovery
would be constant as the mass fraction of HPAM continued to increase.
Formulas Used in Experiments
The ternary component chart was shown in Figure 1. All formulas used in the experiments
should be found in this chart. First of all, three values at apexes of the ternary component
triangle ought to be determined.
When the mass fraction of the surfactant solution was 0.003, the interfacial tension
between oil and the surfactant solution reached the lowest value. So the mass fraction of
the surfactant at the surfactant apex was chosen as 0.006.
When the mass fraction of the alkali solution was 0.013, the interfacial tension
between oil and the alkali solution reached the lowest value. So the mass fraction of
alkali at the alkali apex was chosen as 0.026.
When the mass fraction of the polymer solution was 0.0011, the incremental recovery
would not increase obviously. So the mass fraction of the polymer at the polymer apex
was chosen as 0.0022.
According to values at apexes of the ternary component triangle, other formulas
could be chosen also (see Table 1).
A lot of physical simulation experiments have been finished to determine incremental
recovery of those formulas shown in Table 1. In addition, an incremental recovery contour
diagram was drawn, which is shown in Figure 2 and is explained as follows:
1. Incremental recovery of formulas 1 and 3 were higher than others. Formula 1 was
the polymer solution. Formula 3 was the polymer/surfactant system.

Figure 1. The ternary component chart.

Chemical Flooding for Enhanced Recovery

481

Table 1
All formulas in the ternary component chart

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Volume ratio of
every component in a
formula, %

Every component,
mg/L

Formulas

HPAM

PS

NaOH

HPAM

PS

NaOH

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

100
80
80
60
60
60
40
40
40
40
20
20
20
20
20
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
20
0
20
40
0
20
40
60
0
20
40
60
80
0
20
40
60
80
100

0
20
0
40
20
0
60
40
20
0
80
60
40
20
0
100
80
60
40
20
0

0.00220
0.00176
0.00176
0.00132
0.00132
0.00132
0.00088
0.00088
0.00088
0.00088
0.00044
0.00044
0.00044
0.00044
0.00044
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0.0012
0
0.0012
0.0024
0
0.0012
0.0024
0.0036
0
0.0012
0.0024
0.0036
0.0048
0
0.0012
0.0024
0.0036
0.0048
0.0060

0
0.0052
0
0.0104
0.0052
0
0.01560
0.01040
0.00520
0
0.02080
0.01560
0.01040
0.00520
0
0.02600
0.02080
0.01560
0.01040
0.00520
0

2. Incremental recovery would decrease when the mass fraction of the polymer
solution lowered, no matter how small IFT was. That is to say, oil recovery is
composed of sweep efficiency and displacement efficiency, but sweep efficiency
would play a more important role in enhancing recovery. So the way to raise sweep
efficiency should be considered preferentially when it is necessary to choose ways
to enhance recovery.
3. In binary flooding, polymer/surfactant systems could do better than polymer/alkali
systems; in other words, recovery of polymer/surfactant systems would be higher
than polymer/alkali systems.
4. When polymer concentration was constant, oil recovery in those areas where
alkali concentration was high was lower than areas where alkali concentration
was low.
Sensitivity Experiments of Polymer
Some polymer solutions and surfactant solutions have been made. Some polymer solutions have been mixed with surfactant solutions and determined viscosity of polymer
solutions (see Figure 3).

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482

Q. Yu et al.

Figure 2. Incremental recovery contour diagram.

Viscosity of polymer solution would not change obviously as mass fraction of

surfactant increased. It has been shown that PS could not reduce the viscosity of polymer
greatly. This kind of surfactant has good compatibility with HPAM.
Some polymer solutions and alkali solutions have been made. Some polymer solutions have been mixed with alkali solutions and determined viscosity of polymer solutions
(see Figure 4).
Viscosity of polymer solutions would be reduced sharply as the mass fraction of alkali
increased. So alkali could decrease sweep efficiency that would lead to low oil recovery.

Figure 3. The relationship between viscosity and surfactant.

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Chemical Flooding for Enhanced Recovery

483

Figure 4. The relationship between viscosity and alkali.

All in all, surfactant would not badly affect viscosity of polymer. Surfactant and
polymer could work together to enhance oil recovery. Though alkali can decrease IFT
to raise oil recovery, it can also reduce viscosity of polymer and sweep efficiency of
displacement agents. All of this will reduce oil recovery.

Conclusions
 In chemical flooding systems, polymer flooding and polymer/surfactant systems
could obviously enhance oil recovery.
 Sweep efficiency would play a more important role than displacement efficiency
in enhancing recovery.
 Alkali would reduce viscosity of polymer solution greatly and decrease sweep
efficiency and oil recovery.

References
Cheng, L., and Zengmin, L. 2002. A comprehensive laboratory study on the problems of formation
damage. Pet. Geol. Recov. Effic. 9:7678.
De Melo, M. A., Da Silva, I. P. G., De Barros Correia, A., Da Silva, G. A., Rosa, A. J., Lins,
A. G., and De Lima, J. C. 2005. Evaluation of polymer injection projects in Brazil. SPE Paper
No. 94898. SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, June 2023.
Demin, W., and Jiecheng, C. 2000. Viscous-elastic polymer can increase micro-scale displacement
efficiency in cores. Acta Petroleisinica 21:4551.
Donghong, G., Sen, L., and Jianguo, Y. 2002. Flooding mechanism and application of surfactant
flooding. Adv. Fine Petrochem. 3:3641.
Hongfang, Z., and Demin, W. 2002. Flow laws of polymer solution in porous media and their
mechanism on enhancing displacement efficiency. Pet. Geol. & Oilfield Devel. Daqing 21:57
60.
Needham, R. B., and Doe, P. H. 1987. Polymer flooding review. J. Pet. Tech. 12:15031507.
Qing, Y., Caili, D., and Yefei, W. 2011. A study on mass concentration determination and property
variations of produced polyacrylamide in polymer flooding. Pet. Sci. Tech. 29:227235.
Ruixia, N., Jiecheng, C., Biao, L., and Bolin, L. 2006. Laboratory investigation and appraisal on
non-alkali binary chemical flooding system. XinJiang Pet. Geol. 27:733735.
Shangfa, T., Yanling, L., and Zhou, Z. 2006. Experimental study on combination flooding enhancing
oil recovery. Drill. & Prod. Tech. 29:4749.