The Effect of Temperature and Injection Rate during Water Flooding Using Carbonate Core Samples: An Experimental Approach

In many reservoirs, after water flooding, a large volume of oil is still left behind. Hot water injectionis the most basic type of thermal recovery which increase recovery by improved sweep efficiency andthermal expansion of crude. In the present work, the effects of injection rate and the temperature ofthe injected water were surveyed by using core flooding apparatus. Water flooding was performed atdifferent rates (0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 cc/min) and temperatures (20 and 90 °C), and the reservoirtemperature was about 63 °C. Oil recovery during hot water injection was more than water injection.Moreover, it was concluded that at injection rates of 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 cc/min breakthrough time in hotwater injection occurred 10 min later in comparison to water injection. The results showed that higheroil recovery and longer breakthrough time were obtained as a result of reducing injection rate. In thefirst 50 minutes, the oil recovery at injection rates of 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 cc/min was 27.5, 34, and 46%respectively. It was found that at the beginning of injection, thermal and non-thermal injectionrecovery factors are approximately equal. Moreover, according to the results, recovery factor at thelowest rate in hot water (T=90 °C and q=0.2 cc/min) is the best condition to obtain the highestrecovery.

Keywords:

Water Flooding , Hot Water Injection , Core Flooding Apparatus , Breakthrough Time , Sweep Efficiency