The Effect of Polymers on Permeability During Polymer Flooding

Abstract

Polymers are used for conformance control to block or reduce the fluid transmissibility of high permeability channel without causing formation damage to the less permeable channel which could result in complete shut off the displacing fluid from entering and displacing oil from such zones. This research used convectional polymers such as hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, xanthan gum and a local polymer obtained from caladium bicolor tuber to compare the permeability alteration of this polymer and its oil recovery ability using four core samples obtained from a Niger delta reservoir. The result after flooding the core samples with the different polymer showed permeability reduction; hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, reduced the permeability by 25.4%, Xanthan gum and caladium bicolor starch reduced by 9.76%, caladium bicolor starch by 6.92% and gum guar and caladium bicolor starch by 4.39% respectively.  The oil recovery rate for each core sample was at a close range as hydrolyzed   polyacrylamide had a recovery of 46.6%, Xanthan and caladium bicolor starch, had a recovery of 42.7%, caladium bicolor starch, 46.9% and guar gum and caladium bicolor starch, 47.1% oil recovery. The combination of caladium bicolor and guar gum had a more remarkable recovery due to the high viscosity and thermal stability of caladium bicolor at higher temperature. The results obtained indicated permeability reduction from each of the polymers after flooding.