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Performance of fly ash based polymer gels for water reduction in enhanced oil recovery: Gelation kinetics and dynamic rheological studies

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Abstract

The complexity of well and reservoir conditions demands frequent redesigning of water plugging polymer gels during enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In the present study, we developed coal fly ash (CFA) based gels from polyacrylamide (PAM) polymer and polyethyleneimine (PEI) crosslinker for water control in mature oil fields. The CFA acts as an inorganic additive to fine-tune gelation performance and rheological properties of PAM/PEI gel system. Hence, effects of various CFA (0.5 to 2 wt%), PAM (2 to 8.47 wt%) and PEI (0.3 to 1.04 wt%) concentrations on gelation kinetics and dynamic rheology of pure PAM/PEI gel and PAM/PEI-CFA composite gels were studied at a representative reservoir temperature of 90 oC. Experimental results reveal that gelation time of pure PAM/PEI gel increases with increasing CFA addition. Further observation demonstrates that increasing PAM and PEI concentrations decreases the gelation times of PAM/PEI-CFA composite gels. Gelation time was found to be within 3-120 hours. Understanding the property of reaction order enables better prediction of gelation time. Dynamic rheological data show that viscoelastic moduli (G′ and G″) of various PAM/PEI-CFA composite gels improved better as compared to the pure PAM/PEI gel across the strain-sweep and frequency-sweep tests. SEM analysis of selected samples at 72 hours and 720 hours of gelation activity consolidated gelation kinetics and dynamic rheological results. These polymer gels are excellent candidates for sealing water thief zones in oil and gas reservoirs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Seberang Prai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

    Ahmad Akanbi Adewunmi & Suzylawati Ismail

  2. Center for Integrative Petroleum Research, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Ahmad Akanbi Adewunmi

  3. College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Abdullah Saad Sultan

  4. School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Seberang Prai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

    Zulkifli Ahmad

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  1. Ahmad Akanbi Adewunmi
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  2. Suzylawati Ismail
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  3. Abdullah Saad Sultan
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  4. Zulkifli Ahmad
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Correspondence to Suzylawati Ismail.

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Adewunmi, A.A., Ismail, S., Sultan, A.S. et al. Performance of fly ash based polymer gels for water reduction in enhanced oil recovery: Gelation kinetics and dynamic rheological studies. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 34, 1638–1650 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-017-0071-8

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