Title : Nanotechnology enhanced polymer flooding simulator
Abstract:
A new Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) method is proposed by combining the effects of a traditional polymer flooding and exploiting the advantages that nanotechnology presents in the oil industry. Combined flooding techniques have showed that the sweeping factors could be further increased by employing the synergy of the chemical species being injected in the reservoir. Thus, a novel technique is introduced and applied to a 2D reservoir model with a two-phase, five-component system (aqueous, oily phases and water, petroleum, polymer, nanoparticles and salt as components). Since the physical and chemical properties depend on the components' concentration, the compositional simulation approach is used to study the momentum and mass transport equations of the materials throughout the reservoir. For the polymer characterization, a novel approach is presented by considering the polymer's architecture and its degradation in order to calculate the physical properties, which has never been reported in reservoir simulation. The presence of the nanoparticles affects mainly the rheological behavior and the wettability of the rock, increasing the oily phase mobility. Moreover, negative effects such as particle aggregation and sedimentation are also modeled using a novel formulation in reservoir simulation. The combined action of polymers and nanoparticles along with their synergy allowed increasing the recovery factors beyond standard EOR processes, and it represents a suitable alternative to replace traditional combined methods, such as Surfactant-Polymer (SP) or Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) flooding processes. This is due to the fact that the nanoparticles act, to a greater or lesser extent, on the wettability, rheological and interfacial properties of fluids and rock formation, which is complemented with the polymer's viscosifying properties. Moreover, economic factors could also render this technique more attractive, since the nanoparticles' associated costs are substantially lower than those from surfactant flooding. This simulation proves the potential of nanotechnology as a mean to boost traditional EOR techniques in order to further increase the operative life of mature oil fields.
Audience Takeaway Notes:
- This model presents a new tool to analyze nano-boosted chemical EOR processes. The audience may use this to further improve and develop this technique.
- Academic/engineers in companies may get an insight of the potential of nanotechnology in EOR.
- Other universities may use this to develop novel research lines in polymer agents or different nanoparticles applicable to EOR.
- This job presents a new technique that could be applied in real life for oil companies to improve the productivity of mature oil fields under chemical EOR.
