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From Phase Behavior to Understand the Dominant Mechanism of Alkali-Surfactant-Polymer Flooding in Enhancing Heavy Oil Recovery

  • Original Article
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Journal of Surfactants and Detergents

Abstract

The primary objective of this work was to understand the dominant mechanism(s) of alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding in enhancing heavy oil recovery. Chemical formulations were first optimized based on phase behavior studies. The data indicated that alkali and surfactant created a synergistic effect at the oil/water interface, which further decreased the interfacial tension (IFT) and improved the emulsification. However, it was also found that the addition of alkali was detrimental to the viscous properties of the chemical systems and caused the ultimate oil recovery to decrease. In other words, the macroscopic sweep efficiency as a result of viscosity was the primary factor determining the overall recovery of heavy oil followed by emulsification, which was verified by the phase behavior of the effluent. Based on the experimental results, we found that for this targeted heavy oil reservoir, surfactant-polymer (SP) flooding was more appropriate than ASP flooding and it was not necessary to decrease the IFT to the ultralow level (10−3 mN/m) using alkali. Through chemical flooding, the incremental oil recovery was increased up to 27% of original oil in place, indicating the potential of this technique in heavy oil reservoirs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2015CB250904) and PetroChina Innovation Foundation (2015D-5006-0212). The valuable comments made by the anonymous reviewers are also sincerely appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610500, China

    Bing Wei, Laiming Lu, Wanfen Pu, Feng Jiang, Kexing Li, Lin Sun & Fayang Jin

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  1. Bing Wei
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  2. Laiming Lu
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  3. Wanfen Pu
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  4. Feng Jiang
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  5. Kexing Li
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  6. Lin Sun
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Correspondence to Bing Wei or Wanfen Pu.

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Wei, B., Lu, L., Pu, W. et al. From Phase Behavior to Understand the Dominant Mechanism of Alkali-Surfactant-Polymer Flooding in Enhancing Heavy Oil Recovery. J Surfact Deterg 20, 355–366 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11743-016-1920-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11743-016-1920-x

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