Non Thermal Chemical Methods

EOR Classification

Polymer Flooding
Polymer flooding involves the use of polymers dispersed in water as an injection fluid. Polymer
content reduces the mobility of the water by increasing the effective viscosity and plugging some of
the pores in the formation. This reduction in water mobility in turn improves (reduces) the mobility
ratio and thus, improves sweep efficiencies, stratification efficiencies and frontal saturations.
Polymers are also used in connection with many other EOR processes. Most surfactant and micellar
floods use a slug of polymer behind the chemicals to control vertical and horizontal sweep
efficiencies. It is useful when mobility ratio is unfavourable, in stratified reservoirs to reduce mobility
in high permeability layers, in fractured reservoirs by insitu gelation and Mobility buffer in more
complex chemical flooding, miscible flooding and steam injection.
There are two types polymer synthetically produced polymers (Acrylamide type) and bio-polymers
(Xanthum gum).Factors which degrade polymers are salinity, temperature, time, shear rate and
presence of divalent ions. Bio-polymers suffer from bacterial degradation and cause well bore
plugging. Polymers may be ineffective in a mature water flood because of low mobile oil saturation.
High adsorption on reservoir rock may kill the process. Optimum temperature is a key selection
criterion for polymers. Clay increase polymer adsorption.If oil viscosities are high, a higher polymer
concentration is needed to achieve the desired mobility control. Some heterogeneity is acceptable
but for conventional polymer flooding, reservoirs with extensive fractures should be avoided.

Micellar Polymer Flooding

In the Surfactant Polymer Flood (SP) process, a very low concentration of low adsorption surfactant
is used to achieve ultra low interfacial tension between the trapped oil and the injection
fluid/formation water. SP eliminates scale issues and polymer degradation issues associated with
ASP. The higher viscosity injection fluid results in oil recovery levels similar to ASP.

ASP Process
In the present section, a synergistic effect of alkali, surfactant and polymer is discussed which can aid
in enhancing the recovery of oil. Alkali is used to generate in situ soaps by reacting with the acids in
the crude oil or serve to limit the adsorption of surfactants by raising the pH of the system. The use
of all the three chemicals in the injected slug is termed as ASP flooding. This section summarizes the
development of ASP flooding. Surfactants, either externally added or formed in-situ are responsible

for lowering the interfacial tension between oil and water. The reduction of IFT by alkali surfactant
flooding is the main mechanism for the improvement of oil recovery. It leads to an increase in the
capillary number of the system which further leads to a reduction in the residual oil saturation.
ASP combination flooding is defined as a flooding system which consists of alkali, surfactant, and
polymer. This chemical combination offers several advantages. The mobility ratio can be significantly
improved by the injected polymer. The effective water permeability can be reduced due to the
adsorption of polymer onto the reservoir rock. More residual oil can be emulsified and mobilized
with the assistance of the surfactants which are generated in situ by the chemical reactions between
the injected alkali and the organic acids in the crude oil. Also, the added surfactant can enhance the
salinity tolerance of the alkali. In addition, the reservoir rock surface becomes more negatively
charged, which not only prevent the adsorption of anionic chemicals such as anionic surfactants and
polymers, but also alters the wettability of the rock surface to reduce the residual oil saturation.
ASP tertiary flooding can only be used in selected reservoirs. The candidate reservoirs should have
thick oil columns with limited water legs or gas caps and must also have superior flow capacity
(measured as permeability). The reservoir oil must have certain specific chemical and flow properties
such that the chemistry of ASP will mobilize the oil. Also, because of the overall project costs, a
minimum resource size is required to support the implementation of ASP.

Foam Flooding
Foam is a dispersion of gas in a liquid where the liquid phase is continuous and the gas phase is
separated by lamellae (the liquid phase that separates the gas phase). In general, if bubbles of gas
can be injected more rapidly than the liquid between gas bubbles drains away, a foam structure can
be formed in liquid.
An enhanced oil recovery process in which foam is injected into a reservoir to improve the sweep
efficiency of a driving fluid. Foam can be generated either in the reservoir pore space or at the
surface before injection. Foam flooding mitigates sweep inhomogeneities such as those caused by
layers with higher permeability than the surrounding formations, or those caused by
gravity override.
The foam lowers the gas mobility in the swept or higher permeability parts of the formation because
the foam has a greater apparent viscosity than the displacing medium. A decrease in gas mobility

diverts some displacing medium into other previously un-swept parts of the reservoir, resulting in
the recovery of the additional oil.