You are on page 1of 9

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 157 (2017) 971979

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol

Experimental investigation of associative polymer performance for CO2


foam enhanced oil recovery
Shehzad Ahmed a, *, Khaled Abdalla Elraies a, Isa M Tan b, Muhammad Rehan Hashmet c
a
Petroleum Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia
b
Fundamental and Applied Science Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Seri Iskandar 32610, Perak, Malaysia
c
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum Institute, 2533, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Polymer addition amplies the foam ood performance by providing a substantial mobility control during the
Polymer enhanced foam enhanced oil recovery (EOR). A conventional anionic polymer i.e. hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) is widely
CO2 foam used for polymer enhanced foam (PEF) ooding. In this study, the foam stability and viscosity performance of the
Foam stability
conventional HPAM polymer were compared with a relatively new associative polymer. An associative polymer
Foam apparent viscosity
(i.e. Superpusher B 192) and the conventional polymer of same molecular weight were considered and the foam
generation was performed using a widely used foamer i.e. alpha olen sulfonate (AOS) and a foam stabilizer
(betaine). FoamScan was used to measure the foam stability whereas, for foam viscometric measurements, a high-
pressure high-temperature foam rheometer was utilized. An associative polymer showed an interesting combi-
nation and both the apparent viscosity and foam stability were found to be signicantly high. The conventional
polymer failed to provide a high foam strength in rheometric analysis whereas, an associative polymer showed an
interesting viscosity prole and a two-fold increase in the foam apparent viscosity was observed. This study shows
that the associative Superpusher B192 holds a bright potential in increasing the foam ood performance during
EOR.

1. Introduction When CO2 meets the oil, the oil viscosity is reduced which causes the
oil to swell. This phenomenon also makes the oil leaner (Talebian et al.,
A maximum performance cannot be achieved as gas injection into a 2014; Zhang et al., 2015). Through the exchanges of the components (by
mature oil eld for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) usually results in a poor extraction and evaporation) between the CO2 and oil, the oil becomes
sweep efciency caused by viscous ngering, gravitational override and lighter eventually and the CO2 tends to become more dense and viscous
a premature breakthrough (Falls et al., 1989; Green and Willhite, 1998; (Kamali et al., 2015). The parity in density and viscosity between the CO2
Kuuskraa et al., 2013; Xu et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2015). Gas such as and oil is progressively diminishing, a key factor of a successful sweep
CO2, when used to improve oil sweep efciency, tend to have a lower efciency (Kamali et al., 2015). It is essential that the foam remains
density and viscosity compared to the oil that is intended to be displaced stable and does not rupture in the presence of oil (Almajid and Kovscek,
by CO2 ooding. The CO2 gas moves ahead of the oil, leaving behind 2016). This is because a foam ruptures easily when it meets oil (Almajid
most of the targeted oil in reservoir pores (Zhang et al., 2015). A foam is and Kovscek, 2016; Li et al., 2010). Many attempts have been made to
used to overcome the shortcomings and improve the sweep efciency stabilize the foam lamellae, including the incorporation of CO2 philic and
(Lee and Heller, 1990; Xu et al., 2016). Foam is a dispersion of gas in a oil resistant surfactants to delay the foam decay (Mannhardt et al., 1998;
liquid such that the liquid phase is continuous and some part of the gas Simjoo et al., 2013). Others have employed nanoparticles to provide the
phase is made discontinuous due to the formation of a thin lm called lamellae with the needful viscoelastic property in order to overcome the
lamella (Cao et al., 2015; Nonnekes et al., 2015; Zeng et al., 2016). In this small deformations without rupturing the lamellae wall (Farhadi et al.,
form, the injected CO2 mobility is signicantly reduced and this provides 2016; Sun et al., 2014). However, there exists a limiting lamellae
more opportunity for the foam to invade and sweep previously un-swept thickness (h*), if surpassed will cause the foam to collapse. A foam has a
or inadequately swept segments of the oil reservoir (Xu et al., 2015). tendency to drain its liquid contents, making the lamellae thinner over

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: shehzadahmed904@yahoo.com (S. Ahmed).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2017.08.018
Received 17 March 2017; Received in revised form 24 June 2017; Accepted 4 August 2017
Available online 7 August 2017
0920-4105/ 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S. Ahmed et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 157 (2017) 971979

time and eventually rupture. The liquid from the center of the lamellae lamella can be observed due to incorporation of polymer (Lande, 2016).
will ow outwards to the plateau border. The plateau border is an Many studies have been done using AOS and it is reported that AOS has a
intersection channel that joins the different lamellae bubbles (Farajzadeh good performance with good compatibility with polymers (Huh and
et al., 2015). The liquid in the plateau border has a lower pressure Rossen, 2008; Lande, 2016; Shen et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2008). An
compared to the liquid in the center of the lamellae lm. Efforts are investigation on the application of a novel Chinese polymer and its
directed against the lamellae rapid thinning through the increase of the comparison with HPAM has been carried out and it is concluded that a
liquid viscosity by incorporation of polymer (Osei-Bonsu et al., 2015; novel Chinese polymer (i.e. AVS) with AOS in a porous media study
Sydansk, 1994a; Xu et al., 2016; Xu et al., 2015). Another method to obtained a high foaming factor as compared to the conventional polymer
decelerate lamellar thinning is through gas and surfactant solution in- free foams. (Xu et al., 2015, 2016).
jection rates control. The foam quality in percentage is the ratio of the gas Field implementation of polymer addition with CO2 foam has also
ow rate to the combined ow rates of surfactant solution and gas. If the shown better results for heterogeneous reservoirs (Li et al., 2006). A pilot
foam quality is higher than 90%, a dry foam is found i.e. the gas fraction polymer enhanced foam test was conducted in Gudao oileld in 2003
is increased and the surfactant solution fraction is reduced (Osei-Bonsu (Dong et al., 2016; Li et al., 2009). This eld was initially water ooded,
et al., 2016). As the foam gets drier, the capillary pressure increases and which was then followed by a polymer ooding after 26 years. Due to
surpasses the lamellar thickness causing the foam coalescence and high heterogeneity of this area, various problems, including polymer
lamellae rupture. The apparent viscosity of the foam reaches a peak when production and an increase in water cut occurred. After 20 months, PEF
the foam transitions take place from a low-quality to high-quality foam injection was performed for about 3 months, a signicant improvement
(Stevenson, 2012). in oil production i.e. from 75.1 t/d to 149.4 t/d was observed in pro-
With a signicant increment in foam stability and apparent viscosity, ducers whereas the water cut was reduced to 5.8%. This pilot test showed
an in-depth mobility control can be achieved (Zhou et al., 2015). that the PEF also holds huge potential for the polymer ooded reservoir
Throughout the last several decades, it has generally been acknowledged (Dong et al., 2016; Li et al., 2006).
that foam collapse occurs at reservoir conditions and it incredibly ham- Telmadarreie and Trivedi (2015, 2016) presented an experimental
pers the foam ooding performance (Xu et al., 2016). The efciency of study for fracture carbonate reservoir in which a conventional HPAM
foam ooding is largely depending on foam stability and viscosity, which polymer (Floppam 3330s) with CO2 foam was utilized for oil recovering
shows the ability of the foam to propagate and sweep the reservoir (Xu after the surfactant ooding (Telmadarreie and Trivedi, 2015, 2016). The
et al., 2015). experiments were conducted on a specially designed fractured micro-
Numerous authors agree that polymer addition to the conventional model to analyze the performance of CO2 foam and PEF ooding phe-
foam enhances both foam viscosity and stability and such polymer nomena. The bubbles of PEF pushed the injected surfactant/polymer into
enhanced foams (PEFs) can be used as an effective mobility control agent the untouched matrix portion. Results of both static and dynamic tests
(Dong et al., 2016; Petkova et al., 2012; Schramm and Isaacs, 2012; were presented and a good relationship between the foam stability and
Sydansk, 1994a; Xu et al., 2016). A water-soluble polymer is generally crude oil recovery was obtained. An improved foaming solution viscosity
added to a conventional foam to generated PEF and this increases foam and bubble stability during PEF increased the displacement of heavy
stability, foam apparent viscosity and oil tolerance (Osei-Bonsu et al., crude oil and the results were signicantly higher than the conventional
2015; Shen et al., 2006; Sydansk, 1994a; Xu et al., 2015). foam application (Telmadarreie and Trivedi, 2015, 2016).
Hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) polymers have been widely used Besides that, Hernando et al. (2016) presented an extensive experi-
as oileld polymers, whereby the physical properties of HPAM are mental work to achieve high foam stability by utilizing different foaming
determined based on its negative charge caused by the hydrolysis pro- agents and polymers to screen out the best surfactant/polymer combi-
cess. The degree of hydrolysis (DOH) controls the stability of aqueous nation (Hernando et al., 2016). They used two different polymers (i.e.
phase and the viscosity of HPAMs. A very low DOH causes the reduction anionic and an associated polymer) prepared in 2 wt% KCl brine at room
of polymer solubility in aqueous phase whereas a high DOH could temperature and pressure conditions. A classical non-ionic polymer and
decrease the salinity tolerance. The mechanical degradation of HPAM an associative polymer, which contains a small amount of hydrophobic
could take place when it is exposed to high shear rate. Exposure to the group and acrylamide/acrylate backbone were utilized in this study.
temperature that is higher than 90  C could cause thermal degradation. They found a good foam stability and foam ow resistance after using an
In addition to shear rate and temperature, salinity could affect the per- associative polymer at 20  C and low-pressure conditions (Hernando
formance of HPAM polymers by reducing the solution viscosity. This is et al., 2016).
because of salinity increases, which is caused by the charge shielding Pu et al. (2017) utilized different anionic and non-ionic polymer
mechanism and coiling up of polymer molecules (Lande, 2016; Xu acrylamide (PAM) polymers at the HTHP reservoir conditions (Pu et al.,
et al., 2016). 2017). They used both N2 and CO2 gases for PEF generation in the
Some researchers have investigated the effects of various process presence of crude oil. PEF provides the highest tolerance to crude oil due
variables such as polymer types, concentration and molecular weights, to the formation of the stable emulsion at the lamella interface. The
surfactant types and concentration, and salinity effect on PEF perfor- highest performance of CO2 PEF was found at above the supercritical
mance by using the sandpack as the foam generator (Sydansk, 1994a; conditions of CO2. Additionally, the mobility control and oil recovery
Zhu et al., 2004). It can be concluded that the foam characteristics were signicantly enhanced by incorporating these polymers in strong
improved signicantly with the addition of polymer. A substantial in- heterogeneous formation (Pu et al., 2017).
crease in the foam stability is exhibited even in the presence of a small The mobility control using PEF was found to be higher than the
concentration of polymer. The PEF is also studied in the presence of crude conventional foams due to their high viscosity and stability. A micro-
oil and it was found that the viscosity of crude oil affects the foam sta- model and a porous media studies were presented to investigate the ow
bility. The PEF performance in the presence of high viscous crude is characteristic of conventional foam and PEFs through the porous media
better than in the presence of low viscous crude oil (Sydansk, 1994b). (Dong et al., 2016; Huh and Rossen, 2008). The behavior of PEFs was
Azdarpour et al. (2013) and Wang et al. (2008) studied the foam stability different from the conventional foams in porous media. According to the
by generating the PEF at room temperature and pressure using AOS and apparent viscosity of the PEFs, the shear thinning ow behavior was
SDS in combination with HPAM polymers of different molecular weight. observed more than the conventional foams (Huh and Rossen, 2008;
The results showed a signicant increase in the foam stability due to an Wang et al., 2008; Zhu et al., 2006). The rheological characterization of
increase in foaming solution viscosity (Azdarpour et al., 2013; Wang foam has been known as a complex task and numerous parameters such
et al., 2008). Lande (2016) also blended AOS with HPAM polymer at as foam quality, foam texture, temperature, pressure and chemical types
room conditions and a prominent delay in liquid drainage from foam and concentration have to be considered. Moreover, a rigorous

972
S. Ahmed et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 157 (2017) 971979

experiment should be performed to control all these parameters that (Dept, 1990).
affect the foam stability (Herzhaft, 1999).
Almost all the previous studies mainly focused on the conventional 2.3. Foam stability tests
polymers for PEF research (Azdarpour et al., 2013; Dong et al., 2016;
Lande, 2016; Pei et al., 2010; Petkova et al., 2012; Pu et al., 2017; Shen FoamScan apparatus by Teclis was used to measure the stability of the
et al., 2006; Sydansk, 1994a; Telmadarreie and Trivedi, 2016; Wang foam. Foam stability is the time during which foam reaches half of its
et al., 2008) with using either N2 gas or CO2 at ambient or low temper- volume. The foam was generated by sparging CO2 through a porous glass
ature and pressure conditions. A positive impact of polymer addition on frit (having a pore size of 40100 m) attached at the bottom of a round
foam performance is quite obvious. However, the role of an addition of glass chamber. Prior to gas sparging, 80 ml of the liquid was added to the
the associative polymers to CO2 foam is seldom presented. Besides, a chamber, which contained 8 ml crude oil. CO2 sparging was performed
limited data is available on the rheological properties of conventional with a constant gas owrate of 100 ml/min (Sun et al., 2016). Foam
foams as well as polymer enhanced foams, especially under the extended started to form inside the chamber and it was continued until the foam
temperature and pressure conditions. In this research, we have presented reaches the set volume of 210 ml. A CCD camera attached to this
an experimental investigation for the foam stability and foam rheology equipment records the foam volume during the foam generation and
study of conventional foam and polymer enhanced foam under high during the foam decay. Also, the FoamScan was equipped with several
pressure and temperature conditions (i.e. 80  C and 1500psi) using both conductivity electrodes to measure the volume of liquid with time. The
the conventional and new associative polymers of same molecular sample chamber was thermostated and during the experiment, the foam
weight. FoamScan was used for foam stability tests whereas, for the foam was kept at a xed temperature of 80  C. A schematic diagram of
rheology study, an advanced high-pressure and high-temperature FoamScan is shown in Fig. 1.
rheometer were utilized. Foams were generated using a commercial
AOS foamer and a betaine as a foam stabilizer. A comparison of the 2.4. Foam viscometric measurements
performance of polymer free foam and polymer enhanced foams in the
use of both the associative and conventional polymer has been presented. Pressurized foam rheometer model 8500 (shown in Fig. 2) by Chan-
dler Engineering was utilized in this study for the viscometric measure-
2. Experimental section ments. It is a fully automated system with a close loop and it includes
both hardware and software to study the foam rheology by considering a
2.1. Materials wide range of shear rates and foam qualities. The foam was generated
inside a recirculating loop of small diameter. Pressure transducers
A widely used commercial anionic foamer i.e. alpha olen sulfonate attached to the loop over a certain length measures the pressure drop
(AOS) (Farajzadeh et al., 2008; Huh and Rossen, 2008; Simjoo et al.,
2013; Sydansk, 1994a) was used in this research. It was supplied by
Akzonobel with 39% purity level. TEGO betain C 60 (with 32.6% purity)
was used as a foam stabilizer in this study. It is an amphoteric surfactant
supplied by Evonik Industries. The brine salinity was made of 3 wt% NaCl
and it was used to prepare all the solutions. All the foam stability tests
were conducted in the presence of light Malaysian crude having 43 API.
A gaseous phase used in this research was puried carbon dioxide
(99.99% pure CO2).
Two different polymers (i.e. conventional and associative) were used
in this study. A conventional polymer used was hydrolyzed poly-
acrylamide polymer (HPAM) i.e. FP3330s. Whereas, the second polymer
was an associative HPAM polymer with commercial name of Super-
pusher B192. Superpusher B192 was equivalent to FP3330s in molecular
weight i.e. 8 millions g/mol and degree of hydrolysis (i.e. 25-mole
percent) but it contains a relatively high degree of hydrophobes. Both
polymers were supplied by SNF FLOERGER SAS Company.
Fig. 1. Schematic of Teclis FoamScan (Jones et al., 2016; Simjoo et al., 2013).
2.2. Fluid preparation

Initially, stocks of polymer solutions were prepared and dilutions


were performed to meet the desired concentration. Vigorous agitation
was essential during solution preparation to disperse the dry polymer
powder. A laboratory stirrer was used and it was adjusted in such a way
that the bottom of water vortex reaches 75% into the solution. A uniform
sprinkling of the polymer powder was performed on the shoulder of the
vortex and all the powder was transferred within 30 s. Adding a big slug
of the dry polymer may cause a sh eyes and if the sprinkling was
attempted over a longer span i.e. more than 30 s, the high viscosity of the
solution due to dissolve polymer may prevent proper hydration. As soon
as all the polymer has been transferred, the stirrer was set to the lowest
speed, which can prevent solid settlings at the bottom of the solution and
this actually avoids the mechanical degradation of polymers. Stirring was
continued for about 23 h and then it was left overnight. These solutions
were then diluted to meet the desired concentration by gradually mixing
the required amount of stock concentration with surfactant and brine
solution. These solutions were prepared according to the API standard Fig. 2. Pressurized foam rheometer model 8500.

973
S. Ahmed et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 157 (2017) 971979

through which the rheological values can be computed. A wide range of discharged volume of the liquid becomes the gas volume, which was
shear rate was selected i.e. 10 to 500 sec1 and apparent viscosity data injected for maintaining the loop pressure. A continuous measurement of
versus shear rate for polymer free and polymer enhanced foam was ob- the foam density was made possible by a Coriolis meter attached to the
tained. During the test, foam loop was subjected to HPHT condition of loop. The foam quality can be controlled using the density value during
80  C and 1500 psi. In order to view the foam at HPHT, a view cell was the test.
also provided for the visual determination of the foam quality, stability A continuous circulation of the sample was performed and the foam
and bubble distribution. Attached to the view cell was a CCD camera and was sheared at different rates until the density reading was stabilized and
an image acquisition option was available for foam image analysis and to the generated foam was completely uniform inside the loop, which can
capture the video through the view cell. A general system diagram is be viewed using a viewcell through a camera. A built-in software with
shown in Fig. 3. this equipment records the differential pressure reading at each shear
rate and converts into apparent viscosity using equation (1).
The equations governing the Viscometric measurements are as follow
2.5. Test procedure
(Petkova et al., 2012).
The test was started with the empty and clean loop. Before starting Apparent Viscosity (a) Shear Stress/shear rate, dyne-sec/cm2 (1)
the test, it is important to ensure that there are no previous test remnants.
Few turns to the backpressure regulator was given in order to make sure Shear rate () 8V/D, 1/sec (2)
that the loop is in completely closed position. Liquid sample from the 2
Shear stress DP/4L, dyne/cm (3)
sample accumulator was injected using a positive displacement (PD)
Quizix pump until the loop is completely lled and the testing pressure of where V is velocity (cm/sec), D is the tube inside diameter (cm), P is the
1500 psi is reached. Prior to the liquid injection, the oven temperature differential pressure between the test sections, L is tubing length (cm)
was set at 80  C. A PD pump attached to the loop helps in circulating uid and a is the uid apparent viscosity (cP).
and it was set at 500 sec1. A foam generator was also attached to the
loop, which was operated at 50100% of the speed range. Once the loop 3. Results and discussion
is completely lled and the desired pressure and temperature (i.e.
1500psi and 80  C) were achieved, the needle valve connected to the 3.1. Foam stability of polymer free foams
loop was operated and the liquid volume was discharged slowly into a
measuring cylinder with the purpose to meet the desired foam quality. The quantication of the foam stability is generally performed by
While discharging liquid from the recirculating loop, the loop pressure recording the foam half-life, which is the time required for the half of the
was maintained by injecting CO2 gas. A gas booster was also connected to foam collapses. FoamScan was used to generate CO2 foam and measure
the rheometer, which helps to reach the desired high pressure. The

Fig. 3. A system diagram of the Pressurized Foam Rheometer.

974
S. Ahmed et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 157 (2017) 971979

the foam stability. It was essential to generate a fairly stable CO2 foam.
Based on the previous studies, a good performing foaming agent i.e. AOS
was considered to have a good foam stability characteristics, especially in
the presence of oil (Simjoo et al., 2013). In this research, foam stability
test was performed with 0.5 wt% AOS concentration in the presence of
crude oil and xed salinity (i.e. 3 wt% NaCl) at 80  C. The decay prole of
foam volume versus time was measured and plotted as shown in Fig. 4.
The foam behavior in a general foam stability test can be divided into
three regions (Farzaneh and Sohrabi, 2015). The rst region was domi-
nated by liquid drainage causing lamella thinning with negligible foam
decay. In the second region, a simultaneous drainage of liquid occurs
with prominent foam decay. After the completion of liquid drainage, the
foam decay turns to the third region. It can be clearly seen from Fig. 4
that the half-life of foam was just 600 s. In order to have a better mobility
control, a high foam stability was required. Betaine has been commonly
used as a foam stabilizer to further boost the foam stability. The exper-
iment employs betaine as a foam stabilizer, which was performed with
xed AOS/betaine with a ratio of 1:1. The addition of betaine has
Fig. 5. Foam volume versus time of polymer free, conventional and associative polymer
resulted in an increase of 200 s in the foam stability value. Fig. 4 also foam. The solutions contain 0.5 wt% AOS, 0.5 wt% betaine and 3 wt% NaCl at 80  C and
shows the liquid drainage curves and it can be noticed that the stabilizer 14.5 psi.
addition did not affect the liquid drainage from the lamella. The increase
in longevity of foam is attributed to the increase in required capillary drainage phenomena dominantly contribute to the primary phase of
pressure for oil droplet entry into the foam lamella, which is associated to liquid drainage (Farzaneh and Sohrabi, 2015). During the liquid
the disjoining pressure (Basheva et al., 2000; Farajzadeh et al., 2012; drainage, a pressure gradient was created in the liquid fraction of the
Osei-Bonsu et al., 2015). This surfactant mixture (0.5 wt% AOS and foam and the liquid in the foam lm tends to move towards the junction
0.5 wt% betaine) was selected for a further experiment for the generation point of lamellas (plateau border), which has a low pressure. This results
of polymer enhanced foam. in the thinning of foam lm, which leads to bubble coalescence and
hence the rupture of the lm. The polymer free foam was found to be the
3.2. Foam stability of polymer enhanced foam most unstable due to rapid liquid drainage (shown in Fig. 6) due to the
low solution viscosity, which causes the lamella thinning. The viscous
The foam stability tests were then performed in the presence of nature of the surfactant/polymer solutions could regulate the liquid
polymers to further enhance the CO2 foam performance and investigate drainage (Osei-Bonsu et al., 2015; Simjoo et al., 2013). During the liquid
the effect of the conventional and associative polymers on the foam drainage, the uid velocity was reduced by the viscous process, which
stability. The concentration of polymer was xed at 2000 ppm and the takes place in the plateau border of foam. Incorporation of polymers
testing temperature and pressure were kept constant at 80  C and 14.5 change the solution properties by increasing the foaming solution vis-
psi, respectively. Figs. 5 and 6 present the liquid and foam volume versus cosity and reducing the drainage rate of liquid (Pu et al., 2017). Apart
time for three different cases i.e. polymer free, conventional polymer and from this, the presence of polymer also provides a considerable visco-
associative polymer. It is pronouncedly observed that the lowest stability elasticity that signicantly stabilizes the foam lamella (Hernando
or the fastest foam decay was in the case of polymer free foams. The et al., 2016).

Fig. 4. Foam volume versus time of polymer free foams in the presence and absence of betaine (Bet). The solutions contain 0.5 wt% AOS, 0.5 wt% betaine and 3 wt% NaCl at 80  C
and 14.5psi.

975
S. Ahmed et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 157 (2017) 971979

Fig. 7. Half-life of polymer free, conventional polymer and associative polymer CO2
Fig. 6. Liquid volume versus time of polymer free, conventional and associative polymer foams. The solutions contain 2000 ppm polymer, 0.5 wt% AOS, 0.5 wt% betaine and 3 wt
foam. The formulations contain 2000 ppm polymer, 0.5 wt% AOS, 0.5 wt% betaine and % NaCl at 80  C and 14.5 psi.
3 wt% NaCl at 80  C and 14.5psi.
was then sheared over a wide range ranging from 10 to 500 sec1. The
The rate of liquid drainage or foam stability is dependent on the type apparent viscosity at the entire shear rate was recorded for each tested
of polymer used. Both conventional and associative polymer was able to foam quality and presented in Fig. 8. A typical shear thinning behavior of
thicken the foams by considerably retarding the gas diffusion and hence the foam was observed i.e. the apparent viscosity is decreasing with the
lowering the lamella permeability to gas (Hernando et al., 2016). The increase of the shear rate and the log-log plot displayed a straight line
selected polymers used in this study: FP3330 and Superpusher B 192 with a negative slope (see Fig. 8). On the other hand, the increment of the
polymers have similar molecular weight and degree of hydrolysis. In foam quality (gas/liquid fraction) was able to increase the foam apparent
general, repulsive forces stretches out the polymer backbone and results viscosity until a breakpoint. After that, the foam was found extremely
in swelled macromolecule and increased the hydrodynamic volume of dry, it collapsed and disappeared completely from the loop. The break-
solution (Reichenbach-Klinke et al., 2011). The conventional FP3330s point was found to be around 80% foam quality. The maximum achiev-
polymer is sensitive to salinity, whereby a long and exible chain could able foam viscosity was observed at around 80% and the stability of the
coil up leading to the reduction of solution viscosity. An increase in foam lamella was dropped by further increase of the foam quality. At this
temperature weakens the entanglement between the polymer chains and quality, non-uniform and coarsely arranged foam bubbles are providing
hence lowers the solution viscosity. Liquid drainage was found to be high resistance to ow were observed, which corresponds to the high-
more prolonged in the case of an associative polymer, Superpusher B 192 est viscosity.
by (shown in Fig. 5) resisting the liquid ow that leads to high foam
stability (shown in Fig. 4). The addition of conventional polymer 3.4. Polymer enhanced CO2 foam
exhibited a signicant increase in stability, however, the highest
longevity of foam was observed in the case of associative polymer. The addition of polymer signicantly enhances the viscosity of CO2
The bar chart in Fig. 7 summarizes the half-life or foam stability re- foam and the performance of polymer enhanced foam is depending on
sults for all the three cases. For the case of both polymers, a substantial the types of polymer and its stability at the tested conditions. Both the
increase in the half-life of foam was observed. The half-life of conven- conventional and associative polymers were employed in foam rheology
tional FP3330s foam was lower than the associative polymer foam. This tests. Each liquid phase tested was composed of 2000 ppm polymers and
is due to the increased level of the hydrophobicity in the associative
polymer, which gives stability to the polymer at the experimental con-
ditions, especially in the presence of salinity at HPHT conditions (Pert-
tamo, 2013). The associative polymer contains a surfactant active group,
which was detected from the foam that appeared during the ltration of
polymer solution (Perttamo, 2013). Polymer Superpusher B 192 has
shown a great performance and it has boosted half-life to 1876 s, whereas
the previous foam half-life was only 800 s in the absence of polymer and
1500 s in the conventional polymer case. Based on the results acquired
from these three cases, it can be concluded that the foam stability with
associative polymer presence was approximately 234% of polymer free
foam (134% increase) and 125% of conventional PEF (25% increase).

3.3. Rheology of polymer free CO2Foam

The polymer free formulation that was selected for the foam stability
test was also examined in viscometric measurements. It was essential to
nd the critical foam quality at which the maximum value of foam
apparent viscosity appears based on which a comparative study has been
made. The tested solution containing a surfactant (0.5 wt% AOS &0.5 wt Fig. 8. Apparent viscosity of polymer free CO2 foam as a function of foam quality and
% betaine) prepared in 3 wt% NaCl was injected into the recirculation shear rate. The foaming solution contains 0.5 wt% AOS, 0.5 wt% betaine and 3 wt% NaCl
loop and foams with several qualities were tested at 80  C and 1500psi. It at 80  C and 1500 psi.

976
S. Ahmed et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 157 (2017) 971979

surfactant mixture (0.5 wt% AOS and 0.5 wt% betaine) prepared in 3 wt friction. At this quality, the density meter showed increased uctuation
% NaCl brine. The solution of both the polymers was tested at several and data collected was unreliable because such highly wet foams are
foam qualities. The relationship obtained between the apparent viscosity unstable by nature which will not be benecial for EOR application. The
and shear rate for different foam qualities are depicted in Figs. 9 and 10. dry foams at 80% quality provided high viscosity due to bubble crowding
It is shown that the apparent viscosity of foam decreases as shear rate and coalescence phenomena. At 80% foam quality, the maximum bub-
increases and this result follows the shear thinning behavior. However, bles with coarse textures appeared which provided high resistance to
the low quality of foams was dominated by a high shear Newtonian re- ow and hence an increased apparent viscosity was observed.
gion at a higher shear rate which is above 300 sec1. For the case of
polymers solution, the foam apparent viscosity was found to be highly
3.5. Comparison between the viscosity of polymer free, conventional and
sensitive to foam quality and a considerable increase in apparent vis-
associative polymer foams
cosity was observed until a break point which was appeared at 80% of
foam quality. This characteristic is attributed to the lamella thinning
Foam quality scan in all cases indicates that the critical foam quality
because of the reduction of liquid fraction in foam. Therefore, visual
to be 80% with the appearance of the foam at the maximum viscosity.
observation is essential during the foam rheology and it is utmost
This foam characteristics, high quality and viscosity are favorable for
important to make sure that the loop is completely lled with foam
EOR purposes. Therefore, comparison of polymer free and polymer
before starting the measurements. Foam loop visualization through
added foams was initially made on the basis of 80% foam quality and a
camera indicates that increment of the foam apparent viscosity is caused
change in apparent viscosity within the range of shear rate tested is
by an alteration in foam texture and bubble arrangement (Osei-Bonsu
presented in Fig. 11. A slight increase in the apparent viscosity was
et al., 2016; Schramm, 2006). Below 50% foam quality, liquid accumu-
observed for the case of the conventional polymer. In addition to this, the
lation occurred at the bottom of recirculation loop due to the high liquid
comparison of these three cases (conventional PEF, associative PEF and
polymer free foam) were also presented on the basis of 50% and 70%

Fig. 9. Apparent viscosity of CO2 foam enhanced by conventional FP3330s polymer as a


function of foam quality and shear rate. The foaming solution contains 2000 ppm Fig. 11. Viscosity of polymer free, conventional polymer and associative polymer foam as
FP3330s, 0.5 wt% AOS, 0.5 wt% betaine and 3 wt% NaCl at 80  C and 1500 psi. a function of shear rate at 80% foam quality. The foaming solution contains 0.5 wt% AOS,
0.5 wt% betaine, 2000 ppm polymer and 3 wt% NaCl at 80  C and 1500 psi.

Fig. 10. Apparent viscosity of CO2 foam enhanced by associative Superpusher B192
polymer as a function of foam quality and shear rate. The foaming solution contains Fig. 12. Viscosity of polymer free, conventional polymer and associative polymer foam as
2000 ppm Superpusher B192, 0.5 wt% AOS, 0.5 wt% betaine and 3 wt% NaCl at 80  C and a function of shear rate at 70% foam quality. The foaming solution contains 0.5 wt% AOS,
1500 psi. 0.5 wt% betaine, 2000 ppm polymer and 3 wt% NaCl at 80  C and 1500 psi.

977
S. Ahmed et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 157 (2017) 971979

foam qualities as shown in Figs. 12 and 13. Generally, it can be concluded viscosity at experimental conditions, especially in the presence of salinity
from all the experiments that the performance of associated polymer is at HPHT conditions (Perttamo, 2013). An extensive formation of foam
considerably high at all the foam qualities. was also noticed during the ltration process of Superpusher B192 so-
The apparent viscosity as a function of foam quality at three different lution (Perttamo, 2013), which indicates the presence of the surfactant
shear rates which are 10, 100 and 500/sec is shown in Fig. 14 for all the active group. By comparing the associative polymer performance with
three cases (conventional PEF, associative PEF and polymer free foam). the polymer free case, about 92% enhancement in apparent viscosity of
The apparent viscosity of the conventional polymer is found to be closer CO2 foam was achieved. The performance of conventional polymer was
to the polymer free foam except at low shear (i.e. 10/sec), whereby only a poor in foam rheology tests. The associative polymer provides 76%
slight increase was noticed. The low strength or low viscosity of con- higher in the apparent viscosity as compared to the widely used con-
ventional PEF is affected by the antagonistic effect of shear rate, salinity, ventional polymer (FP3330). This polymer was never used before for PEF
temperature and pressure which leads to thermal and mechanical research. This research ascertained that the associative polymer can be
degradation of FP3330s polymer (Xu et al., 2016). In comparison with considered as a promising candidate for viscosity enhancement. Super
conventional PEF, a newly developed associative Superpusher B192 pusher B192 is different from the conventional HPAM as the former
polymer was generating stable foam at harsh reservoir conditions. This possesses functional groups and there is an increased level of hydro-
polymer has shown the highest foam viscosity at all the tested foam phobes, which provide the additional molecular interlocks in the poly-
qualities and shear rates. mer structure.
The ability of Superpusher B192 to produce strong foam at all the
tested shear rates is shown in Fig. 14. A sharp increase was noticed above 4. Conclusion
70% foam quality, especially at low shear rate and the maximum vis-
cosity was appeared to be 80% foam quality which is approximately a Based on the results from this experimental study, it can be concluded
two-fold increase in the viscosity values were being noticed. This is that the polymer free CO2 foams due to its low solution viscosity undergo
attributed to the high level of hydrophobicity which builds up the a rapid liquid drainage, which results in fast foam decay. The polymer
free foam of AOS in the presence of stabilizer has shown the low foam
stability (i.e. 800 sec). Polymer addition has slowed down both the liquid
and foam drainage and increased in the foam stabilization. An associative
Polymer i.e. Superpusher B 192 used in this study provided considerably
high foam stability value. The foam stability performance of Superpusher
B192 was found to be greater than the polymer free foam and foam of
conventional polymer i.e. FP3330s.
Besides that, the polymer addition increases CO2 foam viscosity and
the process performance is sensitive to the type of polymer being used
and their stabilities. A slight increase in the foam apparent viscosity was
observed with the conventional polymer. The associative polymers i.e.
Superpusher B 192 has shown a signicant impact on the CO2 foam
apparent viscosity. Foam apparent viscosity values achieved using asso-
ciative PEF were approximately 192% of the polymer free case and 176%
of widely used conventional PEF.
This study concluded that the associative polymers are more effective
in improving both the apparent viscosity and foam stability under the
elevated reservoir conditions (i.e. temperature, pressure and salinity) and
this high viscosity polymer enhanced foam should be helpful in providing
a better mobility control for high viscous, heterogeneous and fractured
Fig. 13. Viscosity of polymer free, conventional polymer and associative polymer foam as reservoir during chemical EOR.
a function of shear rate at 50% foam quality. The foaming solution contains 0.5 wt% AOS,
0.5 wt% betaine, 2000 ppm polymer and 3 wt% NaCl at 80  C and 1500 psi.
Acknowledgment

Authors would like to thank Center of Graduate Studies and Petro-


leum Engineering Department at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS for the
funding (Grant No. YUTP-0153AA-E70) and the technical assistance.
This work is equally supported by PETRONAS Research Sdn Bhd and
authors greatly acknowledge its technical support and laboratory setup.
We also would like to acknowledge Teclis and Chandler engineering for
the technical support. SNF Floerger, Akzonobel and Evonik are also
deeply acknowledged for providing polymers and surfactant samples.

References

Almajid, M.M., Kovscek, A.R., 2016. Pore-level mechanics of foam generation and
coalescence in the presence of oil. Adv. colloid interface Sci. 233, 6582.
Azdarpour, A., et al., 2013. Laboratory investigation of the effects of parameters
controlling polymer enhanced foam (PEF) stability. Asian J. Appl. Sci. 01 (01).
Basheva, E.S., et al., 2000. Role of betaine as foam booster in the presence of silicone oil
drops. Langmuir 16 (3), 10001013.
Cao, R., Yang, H., Sun, W., Ma, Y.Z., 2015. A new laboratory study on alternate injection
of high strength foam and ultra-low interfacial tension foam to enhance oil recovery.
J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 125, 7589.
Fig. 14. Apparent viscosity versus foam quality for polymer free, conventional polymer Dept, A.P.I.P., 1990. Recommended Practices for Evaluation of Polymers Used in
and associative polymer foam at three shear rates i.e. 10, 100 and 500 sec1. Enhanced Oil Recovery Operations. American Petroleum Institute.

978
S. Ahmed et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 157 (2017) 971979

Dong, X., Liu, H., Hou, J., Liu, G., Chen, Z., 2016. Polymer-enhanced foam PEF injection Perttamo, E.K., 2013. Characterization of associating polymer (AP) solutions. In:
technique to enhance the oil recovery for the post polymer-ooding reservoir. In: SPE Inuences on Flow Behavior by the Degree of Hydrophobicity and Salinity. The
Western Regional Meeting. Society of Petroleum Engineers. University of Bergen.
Falls, A., Musters, J., Ratulowski, J., 1989. The apparent viscosity of foams in Petkova, R., Tcholakova, S., Denkov, N., 2012. Foaming and foam stability for mixed
homogeneous bead packs. SPE Reserv. Eng. 4 (02), 155164. polymersurfactant solutions: effects of surfactant type and polymer charge.
Farajzadeh, R., Andrianov, A., Krastev, R., Hirasaki, G., Rossen, W.R., 2012. Foamoil Langmuir 28 (11), 49965009.
interaction in porous media: implications for foam assisted enhanced oil recovery. Pu, W., Wei, P., Sun, L., Wang, S., 2017. Stability, CO2 sensitivity, oil tolerance and
Adv. colloid interface Sci. 183, 113. displacement efciency of polymer enhanced foam. RSC Adv. 7 (11), 62516258.
Farajzadeh, R., Krastev, R., Zitha, P., 2008. Foam lms stabilized with alpha olen Reichenbach-Klinke, R., Langlotz, B., Wenzke, B., Spindler, C., Brodt, G., 2011.
sulfonate (AOS). Colloids Surfaces A Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 324 (1), 3540. Associative copolymer with favorable properties for the application in polymer
Farajzadeh, R., Lotfollahi, M., Eftekhari, A., Rossen, W., Hirasaki, G., 2015. Effect of ooding. In: SPE International Symposium on Oileld Chemistry. Society of
permeability on implicit-texture foam model parameters and the limiting capillary Petroleum Engineers.
pressure. Energy & fuels 29 (5), 30113018. Schramm, L.L., 2006. Emulsions, Foams, and Suspensions: Fundamentals and
Farhadi, H., Riahi, S., Ayatollahi, S., Ahmadi, H., 2016. Experimental study of Applications. John Wiley & Sons.
nanoparticle-surfactant-stabilized CO2 foam: stability and mobility control. Chem. Schramm, L.L., Isaacs, E.E., 2012. Foams in enhancing petroleum recovery. Foam Eng.
Eng. Res. Des. 111, 449460. Fundam. Appl. 283305.
Farzaneh, S.A., Sohrabi, M., 2015. Experimental investigation of CO2-foam stability Shen, C., Nguyen, Q.P., Huh, C., Rossen, W.R., 2006. Does polymer stabilize foam in
improvement by alkaline in the presence of crude oil. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 94, porous media?. In: SPE/DOE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery. Society of
375389. Petroleum Engineers.
Green, D.W., Willhite, G.P., 1998. Enhanced oil recovery. In: Henry, L. (Ed.), Doherty Simjoo, M., Rezaei, T., Andrianov, A., Zitha, P., 2013. Foam stability in the presence of
Memorial Fund of AIME. Society of Petroleum Engineers, Richardson, TX. oil: effect of surfactant concentration and oil type. Colloids Surfaces A Physicochem.
Hernando, L., Bertin, H., Omari, A., Dupuis, G., Zaitoun, A., 2016. Polymer-enhanced Eng. Aspects 438, 148158.
foams for water prole control. In: SPE Improved Oil Recovery Conference. Society of Stevenson, P., 2012. Foam Engineering: Fundamentals and Applications. John Wiley &
Petroleum Engineers. Sons.
Herzhaft, B., 1999. Rheology of aqueous foams: a literature review of some experimental Sun, Q., et al., 2014. Utilization of surfactant-stabilized foam for enhanced oil recovery by
works. Oil gas Sci. Technol. 54 (5), 587596. adding nanoparticles. Energy & Fuels 28 (4), 23842394.
Huh, C., Rossen, W.R., 2008. Approximate pore-level modeling for apparent viscosity of Sun, Y., Qi, X., Sun, H., Zhao, H., Li, Y., 2016. Understanding about how different foaming
polymer-enhanced foam in porous media. SPE J. 13 (01), 1725. gases effect the interfacial array behaviors of surfactants and the foam properties.
Jones, S., Van der Bent, V., Farajzadeh, R., Rossen, W., Vincent-Bonnieu, S., 2016. Langmuir 32 (30), 75037511.
Surfactant screening for foam EOR: correlation between bulk and core-ood Sydansk, R., 1994a. Polymer-enhanced foams part 1: laboratory development and
experiments. Colloids Surfaces A Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 500, 166176. evaluation. SPE Adv. Technol. Ser. 2 (02), 150159.
Kamali, F., Hussain, F., Cinar, Y., 2015. A laboratory and numerical-simulation study of Sydansk, R.D., 1994b. Polymer-enhanced foams Part 2: propagation through high-
Co-Optimizing CO2 storage and CO2 enhanced oil recovery. SPE J. 20 (06), permeability sandpacks. SPE Adv. Technol. Ser. 2 (02), 160166.
1,2271,237. Talebian, S.H., Masoudi, R., Tan, I.M., Zitha, P.L.J., 2014. Foam assisted CO2-EOR: a
Kuuskraa, V.A., Godec, M.L., Dipietro, P., 2013. CO2 utilization from next generation review of concept, challenges, and future prospects. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 120, 202215.
CO2 enhanced oil recovery technology. Energy Procedia 37, 68546866. Telmadarreie, A., Trivedi, J., 2015. Pore scale visualization during carbonate heavy oil
Lande, S., 2016. Polymer Enhanced Foam in Unconsolidated Sand. The University of recovery: surfactant alternating CO2 foam/polymer enhanced foam ooding. In: SPE
Bergen. Asia Pacic Enhanced Oil Recovery Conference. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Lee, H.O., Heller, J.P., 1990. Laboratory measurements of CO2-foam mobility. SPE Reserv. Telmadarreie, A., Trivedi, J.J., 2016. Post-surfactant CO2 foam/polymer-enhanced foam
Eng. 193197. ooding for heavy oil recovery: pore-scale visualization in fractured micromodel.
Li, R.F., Yan, W., Liu, S., Hirasaki, G., Miller, C.A., 2010. Foam mobility control for Transp. Porous Media 113 (3), 717733.
surfactant enhanced oil recovery. SPE J. 15 (04), 928942. Wang, D.-m., Han, D.-k., Xu, G.-l., Li, Y., 2008. Inuence of partially hydrolyzed
Li, Z., Song, X., Wang, Q., Zhang, L., guo, P., Li, xiangliang, 2009. Enhance foam ooding polyacrylamide on the foam capability of -Olen Sulfonate surfactant. Petrol.
pilot test in chengdong of Shengli Oileld: laboratory experiment and eld Explor. Dev. 35 (3), 335338.
performance. In: International Petroleum Technology Conference. Xu, X., Saeedi, A., Liu, K., 2016. Laboratory studies on CO2 foam ooding enhanced by a
Li, Z., Zhou, G., Zhou, Z., 2006. The feasibility studies of polymer foam ooding in Gudao novel amphiphilic ter-polymer. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 138, 153159.
oileld. In: SPE Asia Pacic Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition. Society of Xu, X., Saeedi, A., Rezaee, R., Liu, K., 2015. Investigation on a novel polymer with surface
Petroleum Engineers. activity for polymer enhanced CO2 foam ooding. In: SPE International Symposium
Mannhardt, K., Novosad, J., Schramm, L., 1998. Foam/oil interations at reservoir on Oileld Chemistry. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
conditions. In: SPE/DOE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium. Society of Petroleum Zeng, Y., et al., 2016. Effect of surfactant partitioning between gaseous phase and
Engineers. aqueous phase on CO2 foam transport for enhanced oil recovery. Transp. Porous
Nonnekes, L.E., Cox, S.J., Rossen, W.R., 2015. Effect of gas diffusion on mobility of foam Media 114 (3), 777793.
for enhanced oil recovery. Transp. Porous Media 106 (3), 669689. Zhang, Y., et al., 2015. CO2 foam ooding for improved oil recovery: reservoir simulation
Osei-Bonsu, K., Shokri, N., Grassia, P., 2015. Foam stability in the presence and absence of models and inuencing factors. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 133, 838850.
hydrocarbons: from bubble-to bulk-scale. Colloids Surfaces A Physicochem. Eng. Zhou, M., et al., 2015. Studies on foam ooding for saline reservoirs after polymer
Aspects 481, 514526. ooding. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 135, 410420.
Osei-Bonsu, K., Shokri, N., Grassia, P., 2016. Fundamental investigation of foam ow in a Zhu, H.-j., et al., 2006. Compatibility between polymer molecular size and pore throat in
liquid-lled Hele-Shaw cell. J. colloid interface Sci. 462, 288296. reservoirs. Petrol. Explor. Dev. 33 (5), 609.
Pei, H., et al., 2010. Investigation of polymer-enhanced foam ooding with low gas/liquid Zhu, T., Ogbe, D., Khataniar, S., 2004. Improving the foam performance for mobility
ratio for improving heavy oil recovery. In: Canadian Unconventional Resources and control and improved sweep efciency in gas ooding. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 43 (15),
International Petroleum Conference. Society of Petroleum Engineers. 44134421.

979

You might also like