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pressure drop during injection. The data were recorded on From the Rk values measured under low shear rate conditions
a computer. where the thickness of adsorbed layer is not affected by
The procedure used for the coreflood experiments consisted hydrodynamic forces, we calculated the maximum εH values
in injecting successive large slugs of polymer solution resulting from polymer injections at increasing shear rates, and
separated by brine slugs to wash out non-adsorbed polymer. plotted them on Fig. 5. The plot shows the existence of two
The injections started at the lowest flow rate of 1 ml/hr, and different adsorption regimes. When the polymer solution is
then the rate was increased step by step. The pressure drop injected at low shear rate, the adsorbed layer thickness is
was monitored continuously during both polymer and brine constant (εHS ≈ 0.65 µm) and equal to the value previously
injection. Plots of the mobility reduction Rm (Equation 3) and obtained in low-permeability packs.4 Above a critical shear
the permeability reduction Rk (Equation 1) vs. the number of rate of around 70 s-1, we enter a new regime where the
injected pore volumes were established from pressure drop adsorbed layer thickness increases strongly with the rate of
measurements. During each brine injection, the flow rate was polymer injection up to reach a maximum value
varied in order to obtain the Rk curve vs. shear rate. The approximately 3 times larger, εHM = 1.8 µm.
thickness of the adsorbed polymer layer εH was determined
from Rk measurements, using Equation (2). All these results lead us to propose a new mechanism of
Two coreflood experiments were performed with very similar polymer adsorption under high flow rates. Since, because of
packs ( See Table 1). The first one consisted of two polymer the very large pore size, pore bridging is not possible in our
slugs injected at different rates and separated by brine slugs. experimental conditions, the increase in Rk must be attributed
The second one involved 6 large polymer slugs injected at to an increase in polymer layer thickness εH. This increase is
shear rates ranging between 17 and 544 s-1, also separated by clearly related to the increase in shear rate, thus to
large brine slugs. hydrodynamic forces applied on polymer macromolecules
close to pore wall. At low rate, εH remains constant as
Results and Discussion expected when the hydrodynamic forces are too small to affect
macromolecule conformation, so that polymer adsorbs as
In the first pack, we injected two large polymer slugs under "static" conditions. It must be noted that, under this
separated by brine slugs, the first one at a shear rate of 136 s-1 "static adsorption" regime, only the attachment step is "static",
and the second one at a shear rate of 204 s-1. In both cases, the but the kinetics of adsorption depends on convection as
mobility reduction Rm increased vs. time (Fig. 2), showing an described in details for the deposition of colloidal particles.11
unexpected unsteady-state behavior that cannot be explained In this regime, when adsorption energy is low, the thickness is
by the "bridging adsorption" hypothesis for two reasons: 1) the close to the diameter of the polymer coil in bulk solution.5
shear rates are too small to induce a coil-stretch transition and When adsorption energy is high, as expected for the cationic
2) the pore throat sizes are too large to be bridged, even by polymer used in this study, εH is expected to be larger than
strongly stretched polymer macromolecules. coil diameter in solution. But whatever the adsorption energy
This first observation led us to run a second coreflood in a is, we expect εH to be constant, with the polymer covering
much broader range of shear rates, starting from a very low homogeneously the surface of the pores. Above 50 s-1, an
shear rate (17 s-1) to ensure that adsorption occurred under additional adsorption occurs whose magnitude increases with
static conditions, i.e. without any additional force other than hydrodynamic forces. In this "flow-induced adsorption"
that due to Brownian motion. Then the injection flow rate was regime, the hydrodynamic forces favors the penetration of
increased systematically by a factor 2 (34, 68 136, 272 and new macromolecules inside the "static adsorption" layer
544 s-1). During the 3 last polymer injections, we observed a despite the existing osmotic barrier. Thus, the density of
progressive increase in mobility reduction Rm up to reach adsorbed macromolecules increases. The zones of the pore
stable values after injection of a large number of pore volume surface where hydrodynamic forces are the highest are located
of polymer solution. Table 2 summarizes all experimental at the entrance of pore throats, where polymer adsorption has
results, i.e., Rm, Rk as well as polymer layer thickness vs. a strong effect on permeability reduction.
shear rate.
Fig. 6 gives a picture of this "flow-induced adsorption"
Fig. 3 gives the plot of the stabilized Rm as a function of the mechanism. Although pore bridging by macromolecule
shear rate maintained during polymer slug injection. At the adsorption remains a possibility, more especially in the
lowest rates, Rm is almost constant (Rm ~ 2.3). It starts to smallest pore throats, the new mechanism better fits with the
increase above 50 s-1 and reaches a value as high as Rm = 11.7 three observations suggesting doubts about the "bridging
at 544 s-1. adsorption" hypothesis, namely, the low value of the onset
The permeability reduction Rk curves vs. shear rate, obtained shear rate and the weak resistance caused by this "bridging"
after each polymer injection show the same trend (Fig. 4). The adsorption to macromolecule propagation and to oil flow. The
Rk value remains constant at the lowest shear rates and then "flow induced adsorption" mechanism remains also totally
increases as the shear rate increases, with an onset around consistent with the other observations such as the very high
100 s-1. mobility reduction and permeability reduction values obtained
in low-permeability media (an adsorbed layer with a thickness
4 G. CHAUVETEAU, K. DENYS, A. ZAITOUN SPE 75183
of 1.6 µm is expected to plug a 100 mD core completely) and εHS = Static adsorbed layer thickness [m]Rp
the absence of plugging when polymer adsorption is inhibited. = Mean pore radius [m]
Obviously, more experimental data are required to better Q = Flow rate [m3/s]
describe this mechanism, which looks very favorable for water S = Cross-section of the porous medium [m2]
shutoff and conformance control applications. Indeed, the φ = Porous medium porosity
hypothesis of the formation of a thicker adsorbed polymer αG = Shear rate geometrical factor
layer allows to understand how polymer penetration in low- k = Permeability [m2 or D ≈ 0.98 x 10-12 m2]
permeability zones can be very strongly reduced without αS = Pore throat geometrical factor
affecting significantly oil permeability. ηr = Relative viscosity (ratio of viscosity
polymer
Conclusions solution and viscosity solvent)
-1
1. A new regime of polymer adsorption occuring under
γ = Shear rate [s ]
-1
near-wellbore flow conditions, called "flow-induced γ c = Critical shear rate [s ]
adsorption" is proposed.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the European Union
Commission for the funding of this work, Michel Renard for his
determining contribution to the experimental work and W.B. Russel
for very helpful discussions.
Table 2 : Mobility and permeability reductions after polymer injections at different flow
rates (ml/h) and shear rates ( s-1 )
CH2 CH CH2 CH
C O C O
NH2 1-p NH p
(CH2) 3
+
CH3 N CH3
TM
APTAC CH3
3 14
12
10
8
2
6
Fig 2 : The adsorption from a polymer solution injected at high shear Fig 3 : The maximum mobility reduction reached at equilibrium
rates leads to a slow but significant increase in mobility reduction, increases as the applied shear rate increases.
with a tendency towards stabilization.
3 2
Adsorbed Layer
2 1
1 0
10 100 1000 10 100 1000
-1
Shear Rate , γ (s ) Shear Rate Applied during Adsorption , γ a (s -1 )
Fig.4 : The onset of the shear thickening of adsorbed layer (γ*≅100s-1) Fig.5 : The transition between static and flow-induced adsorption
indicates when hydrodynamic forces become high enough to regimes is smooth and occurs at a critical shear rate γc
affect the conformation of adsorbed polymer.
Fig.6 : A schematic picture showing in the upper part (A) the polymer adsorbed from a solution injected in the"static" regime and in the lower
part (B) the larger adsorbed layer resulting from the effects of hydrodynamic forces which induce an increase in adsorption density and in
adsorbed layer thickness.