Study of copolymer performance in polymer flooding of the Daqing oil field

The copolymer KP was synthesized from acrylamide monomer and a small amount of the hydrophobic monomer N-dodecyl acrylamide (AMC₁₂) via micellar polymerization in water. The polymer, with significantly high salt resistance, was specially designed for application in polymer flooding of Class II reservoirs in the Daqing oil field. We have studied the effect of sodium formate addition on the molecular weight of KP, as well as enhancement of the water solubility of KP from addition of the surfactant Triton X-100. The salt resistance of KP was experimentally evaluated and flooding tests were conducted. The molecular weight of KP was measured as about 15 million daltons. It was also found that the viscosity of a KP/water solution is much higher than the viscosity of an HPAM-15/water solution (where HPAM-15 is a partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide with molecular weight 15 million daltons) at the same polymer concentration (1000 mg/L), and is close to the viscosity of an HPAM-30/water solution (where HPAM-30 has a molecular weight of 30 million daltons). Mineralized water (salinity 4000 mg/L, similar to the water in the Daqing oil field) was used for all the tests. Furthermore, KP is very stable with a long shelf-life. Displacement efficiency tests show that oil recovery increased by about 13% when a KP solution was used instead of water. The medium-high molecular-weight polymer KP is promising for application in Class II reservoirs in the Daqing oil field.