Green enhanced oil recovery (GEOR)

2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bashirul Haq ◽  
Jishan Liu ◽  
Keyu Liu

Green enhanced oil recovery (GEOR) is a chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method involving the injection of specific green chemicals (surfactants/alcohols/polymers) that effectively displace oil because of their phase-behaviour properties, which decrease the interfacial tension (IFT) between the displacing liquid and the oil. In this process, the primary displacing liquid slug is a complex chemical system called a micellar solution, containing green surfactants, co-surfactants, oil, electrolytes and water. The surfactant slug is relatively small, typically 10% pore volume (PV). It may be followed by a mobility buffer such as polymer. The total volume of the polymer solution is typically ~1 PV. This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of the combination of microbial by-products Bacillus subtilise strain JF-2 bio-surfactant and alcohol in recovering residual oil. It also considered whether bio-surfactant capability could be improved by blending it with non-ionic green surfactant. The study consisted of a phase behaviour study, IFT measurement and core-flooding experiments. In the phase behaviour study, it was found that 0.5% alkyl polyglycosides (APG) and 0.5–1.00% of butanol at 2% NaCl gave stable middle phase micro-emulsion. Non-ionic (APG 264) and anionic (bio-surfactant) mixtures are able to form stable middle phase micro-emulsion. Based on IFT reduction, two low concentrations (40 and 60 mg/l) of JF-2 bio-surfactant were identified where IFT values were low. The bio-surfactant and butanol formulation produced a total ~39.3% of oil initially in place (OIIP).

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bashirul Haq ◽  
Dhafer Al Shehri ◽  
Abdulaziz Al Damegh ◽  
Abdullatif Al Muhawesh ◽  
Mustafa Albusaad ◽  
...  

Green enhanced oil recovery (GEOR) is a chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) involving the injection of specific green chemicals (surfactants/alcohols/polymers) that effectively displace oil because of their phase-behaviour properties, which decrease the IFT between the displacing liquid and the oil. Carbon nanoparticles application in EOR has sparked interest in the last few years due to its unique characteristics. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one of the common carbon nanomaterials with EOR potential, but they are not used with green surfactant to improve oil recovery. In addition, the recently developed Date Leaf Carbon Particle (DLCP) method has not been applied to GEOR and requires further study. The role of carbon particles in GEOR is not well understood and requires further investigation. This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of DLCP and CNT in green surfactant alkyl polyglucoside (APG) for recovering residual oil within rock pores. The study consisted of a set of laboratory experiments. Two formulations of DLCP, CNT and green surfactant mixtures were selected for core-flood experiments based on interfacial tension measurements to examine their potential for EOR. In the first formulation, 0.08% DLCP was mixed with 0.5% APG and produced 45% of tertiary oil and 89% of oil initially in place (OIIP). This formulation produced a significant quantity of incremental oil after water flooding. Lastly, 0.5% APG was blended with 0.08% CNT; this produced about 27% tertiary oil and 77% OIIP.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongsheng Tan ◽  
Qi Li ◽  
Liang Xu ◽  
Xiaoyan Zhang ◽  
Tao Yu

<p>The wettability, fingering effect and strong heterogeneity of carbonate reservoirs lead to low oil recovery. However, carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) displacement is an effective method to improve oil recovery for carbonate reservoirs. Saturated CO<sub>2</sub> nanofluids combines the advantages of CO<sub>2</sub> and nanofluids, which can change the reservoir wettability and improve the sweep area to achieve the purpose of enhanced oil recovery (EOR), so it is a promising technique in petroleum industry. In this study, comparative experiments of CO<sub>2</sub> flooding and saturated CO<sub>2</sub> nanofluids flooding were carried out in carbonate reservoir cores. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instrument was used to clarify oil distribution during core flooding processes. For the CO<sub>2</sub> displacement experiment, the results show that viscous fingering and channeling are obvious during CO<sub>2</sub> flooding, the oil is mainly produced from the big pores, and the residual oil is trapped in the small pores. For the saturated CO<sub>2</sub> nanofluids displacement experiment, the results show that saturated CO<sub>2</sub> nanofluids inhibit CO<sub>2</sub> channeling and fingering, the oil is produced from the big pores and small pores, the residual oil is still trapped in the small pores, but the NMR signal intensity of the residual oil is significantly reduced. The final oil recovery of saturated CO<sub>2</sub> nanofluids displacement is higher than that of CO<sub>2</sub> displacement. This study provides a significant reference for EOR in carbonate reservoirs. Meanwhile, it promotes the application of nanofluids in energy exploitation and CO<sub>2</sub> utilization.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinuola Udoh

Abstract In this paper, the enhanced oil recovery potential of the application of nanoparticles in Niger Delta water-wet reservoir rock was investigated. Core flooding experiments were conducted on the sandstone core samples at 25 °C with the applications of nanoparticles in secondary and tertiary injection modes. The oil production during flooding was used to evaluate the enhanced oil recovery potential of the nanoparticles in the reservoir rock. The results of the study showed that the application of nanoparticles in tertiary mode after the secondary formation brine flooding increased oil production by 16.19% OIIP. Also, a comparison between the oil recoveries from secondary formation brine and nanoparticles flooding showed that higher oil recovery of 81% OIIP was made with secondary nanoparticles flooding against 57% OIIP made with formation brine flooding. Finally, better oil recovery of 7.67% OIIP was achieved with secondary application of nanoparticles relative to the tertiary application of formation brine and nanoparticles flooding. The results of this study are significant for the design of the application of nanoparticles in Niger Delta reservoirs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rini Setiati ◽  
Muhammad Taufiq Fathaddin ◽  
Aqlyna Fatahanissa

Microemulsion is the main parameter that determines the performance of a surfactant injection system. According to Myers, there are four main mechanisms in the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) surfactant injection process, namely interface tension between oil and surfactant, emulsification, decreased interfacial tension and wettability. In the EOR process, the three-phase regions can be classified as type I, upper-phase emulsion, type II, lower-phase emulsion and type III, middle-phase microemulsion. In the middle-phase emulsion, some of the surfactant grains blend with part of the oil phase so that the interfacial tension in the area is reduced. The decrease in interface tension results in the oil being more mobile to produce. Thus, microemulsion is an important parameter in the enhanced oil recovery process.


Fuel ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 995-1009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilanjan Pal ◽  
Sudhir Kumar ◽  
Achinta Bera ◽  
Ajay Mandal

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Ali Manzoor

Chemical-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques utilize the injection of chemicals, such as solutions of polymers, alkali, and surfactants, into oil reservoirs for incremental recovery. The injection of a polymer increases the viscosity of the injected fluid and alters the water-to-oil mobility ratio which in turn improves the volumetric sweep efficiency. This research study aims to investigate strategies that would help intensify oil recovery with the polymer solution injection. For that purpose, we utilize a lab-scale, cylindrical heavy oil reservoir model. Furthermore, a dynamic mathematical black oil model is developed based on cylindrical physical model of homogeneous porous medium. The experiments are carried out by injecting classic and novel partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide solutions (concentration: 0.1-0.5 wt %) with 1 wt % brine into the reservoir at pressures in the range, 1.03-3.44 MPa for enhanced oil recovery. The concentration of the polymer solution remains constant throughout the core flooding experiment and is varied for other subsequent experimental setup. Periodic pressure variations between 2.41 and 3.44 MPa during injection are found to increase the heavy oil recovery by 80% original-oil-in-place (OOIP). This improvement is approximately 100% more than that with constant pressure injection at the maximum pressure of 3.44 MPa. The experimental oil recoveries are in fair agreement with the model calculated oil production with a RMS% error in the range of 5-10% at a maximum constant pressure of 3.44 MPa.


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