Effects of reservoir temperature and water salinity on the swelling ratio performance of enhanced preformed particle gels

Amir Farasat; Mohsen Vafaie Sefti; Saeid Sadeghnejad; Hamid Reza Saghafi

Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.34, No.5, 1509-1516, May, 2017

DOI10.1007/s11814-017-0017-1 Export Citation

Effects of reservoir temperature and water salinity on the swelling ratio performance of enhanced preformed particle gels

Amir Farasat, Mohsen Vafaie Sefti^†, Saeid Sadeghnejad^{1, †}, and Hamid Reza Saghafi²

Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
¹Department of Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
²IOR/EOR Research Institute, National Iranian Oil Company, Tehran, Iran

E-mail:,

Preformed particle gel (PPG) treatment is now one of the most effective remediation techniques for conformance controlling and selective plugging of high-water flow conduits in mature water-flooded oil reservoirs. Recognizing the intrinsic properties of PPGs, e.g., the swelling ratio, in reservoir condition is of prime importance to the optimization of their performance as plugging agents. In this study, the classical and three-level full factorial experimental design methods are joined with laboratory measurements to investigate the swelling ratio dependency of a new class of enhanced PPGs at different brine salinities and reservoir temperatures. To cover severe reservoir conditions, the reservoir temperature from 298 to 418 K and brine salinity from 0 to 225,000 ppm were considered during the laboratory measurements. The results show that the swelling ratio decreases by rising water salinity. Moreover, the swelling ratio rises by increasing reservoir temperature up to 380K and then starts to decrease. The factor screening illustrates that the swelling ratio is more dependent on salinity than the reservoir temperature in low salinity solutions, while is less dependent on salinity in high salinity solutions. In addition, a precise mathematical model was developed to predict the swelling ratio of PPGs in a wide range of salinities and temperatures. The results of this study present a practical insight into the swelling-related behavior of the PPGs at reservoir conditions.

Keywords:Preformed Particle Gels;Swelling Ratio;Experimental Design;Reservoir Temperature;Water Salinity

[References]

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Goudarzi A, Zhang H, Varavei A, Taksaudom P, Hu YP, Delshad M, Bai BJ, Sepehrnoori K, Fuel, 140, 502 (2015)
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Imqam A, Bai BJ, Fuel, 148, 178 (2015)
Sang Q, Li YJ, Yu L, Li ZQ, Dong MZ, Fuel, 136, 295 (2014)
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[Referenced By]

[1] Almohsin AM, Bai B, Imqam AH, Wei M, Kang W, Delshad M, Sepehrnoori K, Transport of nanogel through porous media and its resistance to water flow, SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium, Society of Petroleum Engineers (2014).

[2] Imqam A, Bai B, Al Ramadan M, Wei M, Delshad M, Sepehrnoori K, SPE J., 20, 1083 (2014)

[3] Duran-Valencia C, Bai B, Reyes H, Fajardo-Lopez R, Barragan-Aroche F, Lopez-Ramirez S, Polymer J., 46, 277 (2014)

[4] Elsharafi MO, Bai B, Effect of strong preformed particle gel on unswept oil zones/areas during conformance control treatments, EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition incorporating SPE Europec, Society of Petroleum Engineers (2013).

[5] Goudarzi A, Zhang H, Varavei A, Taksaudom P, Hu YP, Delshad M, Bai BJ, Sepehrnoori K, Fuel, 140, 502 (2015)

[6] Hajilary N, Sefti MV, Shahmohammadi A, Koohi AD, Mohajeri A, Can. J. Chem. Eng., 93(11), 1957 (2015)

[7] Imqam A, Bai BJ, Fuel, 148, 178 (2015)

[8] Sang Q, Li YJ, Yu L, Li ZQ, Dong MZ, Fuel, 136, 295 (2014)

[9] Okay O, General properties of hydrogels, Hydrogel sensors and actuators: Engineering and technology, Gerlach G, Arndt KF, Eds., Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1 (2010).

[10] Ozeroglu C, Birdal A, eXPRESS Polymer Lett., 3, 168 (2009)

[11] Saghafi HR, Emadi MA, Farasat A, Arabloo M, Naderifar A, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 112, 175 (2016)

[12] Bai B, Zhou J, Liu Y, Tongwa P, Thermo-dissoluble polymer for in-depth mobility control, International Petroleum Technology Conference (2013).

[13] Saghafi HR, Naderifar A, Gerami S, Emadi MA, Can. J. Chem. Eng., 94(10), 1880 (2016)

[14] Young TS, Hunt JA, Green DW, Willhite GP, SPE Reservoir Engineering, 4, 348 (1989)

[15] Tu TN, Wisup B, Investigating the effect of polymer gels swelling phenomenon under reservoir conditions on polymer conformance control process, International Petroleum Technology Conference (2011).

[16] Brattekas B, Graue A, Seright R, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 19, 331 (2015)

[17] Muhammed FA, Bai B, Al Brahim A, A simple technique to determine the strength of millimeter-sized particle gel, SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium, Society of Petroleum Engineers (2014).

[18] Bai B, Huang F, Liu Y, Seright RS, Wang Y, Case study on prefromed particle gel for in-depth fluid diversion, SPE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Society of Petroleum Engineers (2008).

[19] Mousavi Moghadam A, Vafaie Sefti M, Baghban Salehi M, Dadvand Koohi A, J. Petroleum Exploration and Production Technol, 2, 85 (2012)

[20] Molloy PJ, Smith MJ, Cowling MJ, Mater. Des., 21, 169 (2000)

[21] Saghafi HR, Naderifar A, Gerami S, Farasat A, Iranian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (IJCCE), 35, 83 (2016)

[22] Imqam A, Bai B, Wei M, Elue H, Muhammed FA, SPE Production & Operations, 31, 247 (2016)

[23] Tongwa P, Bai B, J. Pet. Sci. Eng., 124, 35 (2014)

[24] Bai B, Li L, Liu Y, Liu H, Wang Z, You C, SPE Reservoir Evaluation Eng., 10, 415 (2007)

[25] Bai B, Liu Y, Coste JP, Li L, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 10, 176 (2007)

[26] Zhang XY, Wang XP, Li L, Zhang SS, Wu RN, React. Funct. Polym., 87, 15 (2015)

[27] Jmp A, Proust M, Modeling and multivariate methods, SAS Institute (2012).

[28] Croarkin C, Tobias P, Nist/sematech e-handbook of statistical methods, NIST/SEMATECH, July. Available online: http://www. itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook (2006).

[29] Proust M, Jmp A, Design of experiments guide, SAS Institute, Cary, NC, U.S.A. (2009).

[30] Ahmed EM, J. Adv. Res., 6, 105 (2015)

[31] Mathur AM, Moorjani SK, Scranton AB, Journal of Macromolecular Science, Part C, 36, 405 (1996)

[32] Mahdavinia GR, Pourjavadi A, Hosseinzadeh H, Zohuriaan MJ, Eur. Polym. J., 40, 1399 (2004)

[33] Vasheghani-Farahani E, Vera JH, Cooper DG, Weber ME, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 29, 554 (1990)

[34] Cozic C, Rousseau D, Tabary R, Broadening the application range of water shutoff/conformance-control microgels: An investigation of their chemical robustness, SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Society of Petroleum Engineers (2008).

[35] Li H, Smart hydrogel modelling, Springer, New York (2009).

[36] Caulfield MJ, Hao X, Qiao GG, Solomon DH, Polymer, 44, 3817 (2003)

[37] Dupuis G, Al-Maamari RS, Al-Hashmi AA, Al-Sharji HH, Zaitoun A, Mechanical and thermal stability of polyacrylamidebased microgel products for EOR, SPE International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry, Society of Petroleum Engineers (2013).

[38] Demirci U, Khademhosseini A, Gels handbook: Fundamentals, properties and applications (in 3 volumes), World Scientific Publishing Company Pte Ltd. (2016).

[39] Jamshidi H, Rabiee A, Adv. Mater. Sci. Eng., 2014 (2014)