An Experimental Study of Alkali-surfactant-polymer Flooding through Glass Micromodels Including Dead-end Pores

Chemical flooding, especially alkaline/surfactant/polymer flooding, is of increasing interest due tothe world increasing oil demand. This work shows the aspects of using alkaline/surfactant/polymeras an enhanced oil recovery method in the porous media having a high dead-end pore frequencywith various dead-end pore parameters (such as opening, depth, aspect ratio, and orientation). Usingglass micromodels makes it possible to manipulate and analyze the pore parameters and watchthrough the porous media precisely. The results show that polyacrylamide almost always enhancesoil production recovery factor (up to 14% in comparison with brine injection) in this kind of porousmedia. Except at low concentrations of polyacrylamide and sodium carbonate, sodium dodecylsulfonate improves oil recovery (even 15% in the case of high polyacrylamide concentration andlow sodium carbonate concentration). Increasing alkaline concentration reduces recovery factorexcept at low concentrations of polyacrylamide and high concentrations of surfactant.

Keywords:

Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer (ASP) , Dead-end Pore , Aspect Ratio , Dead-end Orientation