Effect of Emulsification on Enhanced Oil Recovery during Surfactant/Polymer Flooding in the Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Porous Media

Surfactant polymer (SP) flooding has become an important enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique for the high-water cut mature oilfield. Emulsification in the SP flooding process is regarded as a powerful mark for the successful application of SP flooding in the filed scale. People believe emulsification plays a positive role in EOR. This paper uses one-dimensional homogenous core flooding experiments and parallel core flooding experiments to examine the effect of emulsification on the oil recoveries in the SP flooding process. 0.3 pore volume (PV) of emulsions which are prepared using ultralow interface intension (IFT) SP solution and crude oil with stirring method was injected into core models to mimic the emulsification process in SP flooding, followed by 0.35 PV of SP flooding to flood emulsions and remaining oil. The other experiment was preformed 0.65 PV of SP flooding as a contrast. We found SP flooding can obviously enhance oil recovery factor by 25% after water flooding in both homogeneous and heterogeneous cores. Compared to SP flooding, emulsification can contribute an additional recovery factor of 3.8% in parallel core flooding experiments. But there is no difference on recoveries in homogenous core flooding experiments. It indicates that the role of emulsification during SP flooding will be more significant for oil recoveries in a heterogeneous reservoir rather than a homogeneous reservoir.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of emulsification on oil recovery in surfactant polymer (SP) flooding, finding that SP flooding significantly enhances oil recovery while emulsification plays a more significant role in heterogeneous reservoirs.