EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON POLYMER VISCOSITY AND ITS

FEASIBILITY FOR POLYMER FLOODING

PROJECT REPORT

By
Group 3
Rohan Chawda:15BPE019
Vivek Chawda:15BPE020
Sagar Dadhich:15BPE022
Karmita Dalawat:15BPE023
Parth Dankara:15BPE024
Simran Dhingra:15BPE027
Nikunj Dodiya:15BPE028
Denish Donga:15BPE029

Under the guidance of

Mrs Vaishali Sharma

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

SR PG
NO. TITLE NO.

1 Acknowledgement 3

2 Introduction 4

3 polymer flooding 5

4 types of polymers 7

5 polymer properties 9
instrumental and experimental
6 procedure 10

7 adv and disadv of polymer flooding 15

8 interpretation and results 17

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Mrs Vaishali Sharma,

the faculty mentor of the project, for helping and guiding us throughout the
completion of this project .This project would not have been possible without
her.

We would also like to thank Bhavesh Sir for helping us perform the experiment
and with the handling of lab instruments.

Special thanks to Negi sir for providing us with the sample material for our
project and at last PDPU College for providing us the facilities and permitting us
to conduct the experiments and make the project successful.

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 Introduction
______________________________________________________________________
With varied types of fluid and heterogeneous reservoir properties, We are
usually unable to recover all the OOIP because. However it is necessary to
extract the remaining fluid in order to meet the demands of growing world. To
achieve this there are many processes which are implemented by the industry.

Oil production is separated into three phases:

Primary Recovery: Using Reservoir natural energy for production
Secondary Recovery: use of methods like Water flooding, Gas Injection.
Tertiary Recovery Methods: With the current growing demand for oil, oil price
and the concerns about future oil supplies increases the pressure in securing oil
resources Additional of reserves is very expensive option that is why EOR
techniques is driving the attention knowing that even small increment in oil add
significant reserves.

EOR processes can generally be classified as thermal, miscible or chemical

processes. Thermal methods mainly used in heavy oil reservoirs, miscible
processes are suitable for lower viscosity oils and chemical EOR processes are
used to reduce reservoir forces responsible for oil entrapment. These chemical
processes depend on the types of fluid used for example polymer, alkaline and
surfactant

For more than 20 years polymer flooding has been implemented in conventional
(light to medium oil) reservoirs.

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  The objective of polymer flooding as a mobility control agent is to provide
better displacement and volumetric sweep efficiencies during a waterflood
 Very mature method with 40 years of commercial applications
 Applicable to light and medium gravity oils with viscosities up to at least 200 cp
 Limited to reservoirs with remaining oil saturation above residual oil saturation
 Hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) is the only commonly used polymer in the
field and can be used up to about 185 F depending on the brine hardness

When conducting a polymer waterflood, a high-molecular-weight and viscosity-

enhancing polymer is added to the water of the waterflood to decrease the mobility
of the flood water and, as a consequence, improve the sweep efficiency of the
waterflood
Flooding polymer in zone/layer/reservoir with homogenous permeability will allow
better sweeping efficiency and give high recovery.
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We know that the fractional flow equation depends on viscosity of
oil,water,permeability of oil and permeability of water

So our objective is to decrease the fractional flow of water (water cut) so one method
is to viscosity of water so that water always remains behind the oil flow.

Polymer flooding helps in increasing the water viscosity by forming a gel with
water.The gel must have have some specific properties.

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 Types of Polymer for EOR

Polymers are long chain organic molecules made from joining together small
molecules called monomers. They are flexible with high molecular weight ranging from 2
x106 to 21x106g/mole. Two types of polymers mostly used for Enhancing Oil Recovery
(EOR) are Polyacrylamide(PAM), in its partially hydrolysed form (HPAM) and Xanthan.

Most of the polymers used for EOR fall into two sets: synthetic polymers and
biopolymers. The most commonly used among them are synthetic (PAM) and partially
hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), the biological polysaccharide, Xanthan, and some
modified natural polymers, including HEC (hydroxyl ethyl cellulose), guar gum and sodium
carboxymethyl cellulose, carboxyethoxyhydroxyethylcellulose. Every polymer has its own
advantages and disadvantages for a specific reservoir.

Partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) is one of the most popular polymer used
today. HPAM is obtained by partial hydrolysis of PAM or by copolymerization of sodium
acrylate with acrylamide. HPAM's advantages include its tolerance to high mechanical
forces present during the flooding of a reservoir, low cost, and its resistance to bacterial
attack. This polymer can be used for temperatures up to 99°C depending on brine hardness.
A few of its modifications, such as HPAMAMPS co-polymers and sulphonated
polyacrylamide can withstand 104°C and 120°C respectively. The disadvantage of HPAM lies
in its high sensitivity to the brine salinity, hardness and presence of surfactants or other
chemicals. This makes it very ineffective in reservoirs containing salts.

HPAM vs.Xanthan
HPAM is cheap, more bacterial resistant,have high thermal stability, have high ability to
reduce permeability to water more than the relative permeability to oil in porous media
compared to Xanthan.But Xanthan have excellent viscofying power in saline water
compared to HPAM

Flooding Mechanism
Polymer is added in water to lower the water-oil mobility ratio by increasing water
viscosity. The lowering of water-oil mobility ratio results into improvement of oil
recovery by increasing areal, vertical and displacement (or microscopic) sweep
efficiencies

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Mobility control
Polymer is added so as to increase the viscosity of water. Viscosity increased until
mobility of water is less than that of the oil phase in place, so the mobility ratio is less
than unity. The ranges of mobility ratio, M are considered to be; -Favourable when
(M≤1), -Unfavourable when (M>1) and -Piston displacement when (M=1)

Mobility ratio is the ratio of mobility of displacing fluid to displaced fluid.

Fractional flow of water, fw:

This is the ratio of the water flow rate to the total rate (oil and water) these flow rate
are derived from Darcy’s law The overall fractional flow (Eqn v) of water for water-oil
system is then obtained byBuckley-Leverett analysis/method.

The fractional flow of water is altered by

changing the mobility ratio.
The fw-curve shifts more to the right as
mobility ratio decreases (becomes more
favourable)as shown in fig

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Polymer concentration effect
Polymer adsorption is a strong function of polymer concentration. Additional of
polymer concentration increases the viscosity of the polymer solution and the thick
solution creates high chances for polymer to adsorb

Relative permeability to water effect

Polymer adsorption reduces the relative permeability to water because polymer is
soluble in water phase and not in oil phase. So when polymers flow through pore
throats, some large molecules are retained, at that point polymer blocks water
flowing through and reduce relative permeability to water. Another point is;
polymers tend to form hydrogen bond with water molecules which enhances the
affinity between the adsorption layer and water molecules. This causes the rock
surface to become more water-wet thus relative permeability to water reduced

Temperature effect
The combination of electrostatic forces and molecular forces (like hydrogen bond,
van der Waals, hydrophobicity etc.) causes both anionic and non-ionic polymers
adsorption to decrease with temperature

Polymer viscosity
Viscosity of water is the major parameter to control for polymer solution. Some of
the factors that affect polymer viscosity are salinity, concentration, PH, shear rate,
temperature etc

 Thermal stability
Polymer molecules undergo both physical and chemical changes when subjected
under high temperature or heat. Heat lowers the strength of bonds in the polymer
chain which causes loss of attached elements and leaves other bonds unpaired

 Shear rate effect

Polymers are non Newtonian fluids therefore they have different behaviour
when subjected to different shear rate (flow rate). At high shear rate,
increasing shear rate will decrease viscosity.

 Concentration effects
For PAM polymers with amide group (-CONH2, additional of salt whether
monovalent (NaCl) or divalent (CaCl2) will cause an increase in viscosity.
However, for HPAM with carboxyl group (COO-) additional of monovalent will
cause decrease in viscosity. This is because the added salt will neutralize the
charge in HPAM side chains.
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 Instrument and Experimental Procedure
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Objective

 To understand the viscosity behaviour of HPAM Polymer

 To investigate the temperature effect on the viscosity behaviour of HPAM Polymer

Polymer used: HPAM (Hydrolyzed polyacrlymide)

Apparatus:

 Anton Paar Rheometer

 Rotating bob
 Fluid holding cup
 Heater
 Magnetic stirrer
 Digital weighing scale

Chemicals Required

 HPAM Polymer
 Distilled water

Theory:
Rheology defines the deformation of a matter when subjected to stress.

Rheometer is a lab instrument which measures the deformation in fluid when external force is applied.
In this project we have used anton paar MCR 52 Model with an intent to do the measurement of
change in viscosity of HPAM (hydrolyzed polyacrylamide) polymer.

Procedure:
Step 1: weigh 0.1g of solid HPAM Polymer with the help of a digital weighing scale

Step 2: pour 100 ml of distilled water in a beaker and add the weighed polymer sample.

Step 3: put the magnet inside the beaker and stir the solution with the help of a magnetic stirrer for 5
minutes.

Step 4: switch on the instruments and set the heater to room temperature. Attach the rotary bob to the
assembly.

Step 5 : pour the solution into the sample holding cup uptill the mark .

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Step 6: place the cup into the holder and fix the screw.

Step 7: start Rheoplus software and initialize the system . let the bob reach its measured position

Step 8: fix the system on constant shear rate of 100

Step 9: start the test

Step 10: wait fr 120s and note down the average of the readings .

Step 11 : increase the temperature to 30,40,50,60 and repeat step 8 and 9.

Step 12: repeat steps 1-10 with solution of different concentrations

HPAM Mixing Procedure: Mix brine and stir at 300-400 rpm

Add dried polymer slowly to shoulder of vortex (2-3 min)

Calculations:
0.05g/100 ml= 500 ppm

1g/100 ml= 1000 ppm

0.2g/100 ml= 2000 ppm

Observation Table

Viscosity at Viscosity at Viscosity at

500 ppm 1000 ppm 2000 ppm
Temperature(˚C) (mPA-S) (mPA-S) (Mpa-s)
31.5 11.7 20.2 30.72
38 10.97 19.8 29.02
50 10.218 18.8 27.84
60 9.476 18 26.84
70 9.28 17.3 25.62

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Results:

Visc Visc Visc

Temp(˚c) 1000 ppm 500 ppm 2000 ppm
31.5 20.2 11.7 30.72
38 19.8 10.97 29.02
50 18.8 10.218 27.84
60 18 9.476 26.84
70 17.3 9.28 25.62

35
30
viscosity(mpa.s)

25
20
15
10
5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
temperature (c)
v 1000 ppm v 500 ppm 2000 ppm

t = 38 c conc ppm viscosity

500 10.97
1000 19.8
2000 29.02

t= 50 c conc ppm viscosity

500 10.218
1000 18.8
2000 27.84

t = 60 c conc. viscosity
500 9.476
1000 18
2000 26.84

35
t = 38 c t= 50 c t = 60 c
30
25
viscosity(mpa.s)

20
15
10
5
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
concentration(ppm)

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 Step 2: prepare the polymer solution Step 3: stir the solution

Step 5:pour the solution into the holding cup Step 7:start the rheometer

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Step 9: measure the readings

Lab setup for the experiment

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 Advantages and Disadvantages of Polymer Flooding
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Advantages:

 It will help to achieve mobility ratio less than unity. This condition maximizes
oil-recovery by better sweep efficiency, creating a smooth flood front without
viscous fingering.

 We can achieve upto 12% to 15% additional oil recovery by this EOR method.

 Polymer flooding has much greater potential as a secondary process than in

post waterflood applications.

 A technically successful tertiary polymer flood requires more polymer per

barrel of oil recovered. The amount of polymer used to recover a barrel of oil
appears to have been about six times greater in tertiary than in secondary
applications. So it is more economical to use polymer flooding in secondary
application.

Disadvantages:

 Formation damage caused by polymer flooding. Because polymer adsorption is

practically irreversible (taking a large pore volume of displacing fluid to desorb
the polymer), the adsorbed polymers will permanently damage the formation.
 If some oil is left in the formation after polymer flooding it will be more difficult
to be recovered by other methods because the formation permeability has
been reduced.

 Polymer stabilizes the water/oil emulsion, thus causing the difficulty of

reducing the oil content to such a level that the treated water can satisfy water-
quality specification and the water can be reinjected.

 Reservoir Depth Both shallow and deep reservoirs should be avoided.

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Limitation:

 Oil viscosity < 150 cp (preferably < 100 and > 10 cp) and API gravity > 15°
 Matrix-rock permeability > 20 md( in some case 10), because polymer solutions
in low-permeability formations: (l) reducing the injection rate would prolong
the life of the project beyond the economic limit and (2) the high shear around
injection wellbores could cause shear degradation for polyacrylamide polymers.
Therefore, reservoirs with permeabilitie below 20 md probably should be
avoided,
 Reservoir temperature: low temperatures are best (best at < 176°F; maximum
of approximately 210°F)Water injectivity should be good with some spare
capacity (hydraulic fracturing of injection wells may help)

HPAM polymer
Advantages:

 HPAM's advantages include its tolerance to high mechanical forces present

during the flooding of a reservoir, low cost, and its resistance to bacterial attack
 HPAM have high thermal stability, have high ability to reduce permeability to
water more than the relative permeability to oil in porous media compared to
Xanthan.

 This polymer can be used for temperatures up to 99°C depending on brine

hardness. A few of its modifications, such as HPAMAMPS co-polymers and
sulphonated polyacrylamide can withstand 104°C and 120°C respectively. While
xanthangum has significant hydrolytic degradation above 70 C.

Disadvantages:

 The disadvantage of HPAM lies in its high sensitivity to the brine salinity,
hardness and presence of surfactants or other chemicals. This makes it very
ineffective in reservoirs containing salts.

 Xanthan have excellent viscofying power in saline water compared to HPAM.

 A xanthan gum injection is more effective than HPAM under higher salinity
reservoir conditions.
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 Interpretation and Results
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The most important preconditions for polymer flooding are reservoir

temperature and the chemical properties of reservoir water. At high temperature or
with high salinity in reservoir water, polymer cannot be kept stabile and polymer
concentration will lose most of its viscosity.

So we found out the variation of viscosity with temperature and the viscosity change
with respect to concentration.

With polymer concentration increasing, viscosity of polymer solution increases

quickly.

We took the same shear rate throughout so there was no effect of shear rate on
viscosity as the shear rate was constant.

From results obtained we can say that the viscosity keeps on decreasing as the
temperature increases.

THANK YOU

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