Rheology and Flow Behaviour of Non-Newtonian, Polymeric Fluids in Capillaric and Porous Media: Aspects Related to Polymer Flooding for Enchanced Recovery of Heavy Oil
type: CreativeWork
description: Heavy oil reservoirs under consideration for polymer flooding typically contain greater than 85% of the original oil in place (OOIP) after primary recovery and waterflooding. Many of these fields are operated at high producing water/oil ratios (WORs) only marginally above their economic limit due to additional production, handling, and treatment expenses that can average $3/m3 of water. Depending on timing of implementation, operators could achieve very high incremental recoveries approaching 20% OOIP and beyond, as suggested by the experiments conducted in this work. The main premise behind this thesis study is to develop fundamental knowledge of the rheology and flow behavior of polymeric fluids that is essential in creating a detailed screening protocol. The evaluation of these critical parameters is based upon the following: 1) fundamental rheological measurements of non-Newtonian polymeric fluids; 2) injectivity sandpack floods to determine in-situ dynamic viscosities through the concept of Resistance Factor, Fr; 3) immiscible displacement of heavy oil by water and polymers to determine microscopic displacement efficiency; 4) larger-scale, 3D physical modeling of the polymer flood process; and, lastly 5) numerical simulation. A specialized rheometer was used to determine the viscoelastic properties of both hydrolyzed polyacrylamides (HPAM) and hydrophobically associating polyacrylamides (HAP) used in heavy enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes. The rheometric analyses indicated that improved resistance to flow due to elastic phenomenon were observed as a function of the polymer type, concentration, molecular weight, degree of hydrophobicity; however, solution shear history, salinity and temperature were found to have a slightly negative effect. Compared to traditional HPAMs, a medium density HAP showed an earlier onset of elastically-dominated flow as determined by its increased elasticity, characteristic relaxation time and Weissenberg number. Sandpack flood r…
abstract: Heavy oil reservoirs under consideration for polymer flooding typically contain greater than 85% of the original oil in place (OOIP) after primary recovery and waterflooding. Many of these fields are operated at high producing water/oil ratios (WORs) only marginally above their economic limit due to additional production, handling, and treatment expenses that can average $3/m3 of water. Depending on timing of implementation, operators could achieve very high incremental recoveries approaching 20% OOIP and beyond, as suggested by the experiments conducted in this work. The main premise behind this thesis study is to develop fundamental knowledge of the rheology and flow behavior of polymeric fluids that is essential in creating a detailed screening protocol. The evaluation of these critical parameters is based upon the following: 1) fundamental rheological measurements of non-Newtonian polymeric fluids; 2) injectivity sandpack floods to determine in-situ dynamic viscosities through the concept of Resistance Factor, Fr; 3) immiscible displacement of heavy oil by water and polymers to determine microscopic displacement efficiency; 4) larger-scale, 3D physical modeling of the polymer flood process; and, lastly 5) numerical simulation. A specialized rheometer was used to determine the viscoelastic properties of both hydrolyzed polyacrylamides (HPAM) and hydrophobically associating polyacrylamides (HAP) used in heavy enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes. The rheometric analyses indicated that improved resistance to flow due to elastic phenomenon were observed as a function of the polymer type, concentration, molecular weight, degree of hydrophobicity; however, solution shear history, salinity and temperature were found to have a slightly negative effect. Compared to traditional HPAMs, a medium density HAP showed an earlier onset of elastically-dominated flow as determined by its increased elasticity, characteristic relaxation time and Weissenberg number. Sandpack flood r…
author: Wilton, Ryan Richard
language: en
date published: 2015-12
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:03:50Z
provider: University of Regina
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10294/6817

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.82465/5088