article · Scientific Reports
Biopolymers used in chemical flooding are increasingly considered for enhanced oil recovery, particularly in acidic reservoirs. This research assesses a modified chitosan composite developed by combining native chitosan with vinyl and silane monomers through emulsion polymerisation. Laboratory flooding experiments conducted under elevated pressure, high salinity, and high temperature revealed that the modified material exhibited superior resistance to pressure, increased viscosity, and achieved an 11 percent improvement in oil recovery, compared to 5 percent with unmodified chitosan. Complementary simulations using reservoir software on the Bahariya formations in the Western Desert predicted polymer dynamics under realistic geological conditions. The simulation results demonstrated that the modified composite reached an overall recovery factor of 48 percent, noticeably outperforming native chitosan at 39 percent and conventional water flooding at 37 percent, confirming the composite's potential for challenging reservoir environments.
Extracting trapped oil from mature or harsh reservoirs often requires chemical additives that degrade under acidic, high-salinity, or high-pressure settings. Developing resilient biopolymer alternatives offers petroleum engineers a more effective chemical flooding agent, potentially boosting extraction efficiency in reservoirs where standard synthetic polymers or basic water flooding yield sub-optimal results.
The composite is intended for enhanced oil recovery operations by oil and gas operators managing acidic, high-salinity reservoirs. Having been demonstrated through laboratory core-flooding experiments alongside field-scale numerical reservoir simulations, the technology sits at an applied and tested stage of development, with physical field trials required prior to commercial adoption.
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Chemical flooding through biopolymers acquires higher attention, especially in acidic reservoirs. This research focuses on the application of biopolymers in chemical flooding for enhanced oil recovery in acidic reservoirs, with a particular emphasis on modified chitosan. The modification process involved combining chitosan with vinyl/silane monomers via emulsion polymerization, followed by an assessment of its rheological behavior under simulated reservoir conditions, including salinity, temperature, pressure, and medium pH. Laboratory-scale flooding experiments were carried out using both the original and modified chitosan at conditions of 2200 psi, 135,000 ppm salinity, and 196° temperature. The study evaluated the impact of pressure on the rheological properties of both chitosan forms, finding that the modified composite was better suited to acidic environments, showing enhanced resistance to pressure effects with a significant increase in viscosity and an 11% improvement in oil recovery over the 5% achieved with the unmodified chitosan. Advanced modeling and simulation techniques, particularly using the tNavigator Simulator on the Bahariya formations in the Western Desert, were employed to further understand the polymer solution dynamics in reservoir contexts and to predict key petroleum engineering metrics. The simulation results underscored the effectiveness of the chitosan composite in increasing oil recovery rates, with the composite outperforming both its native counterpart and traditional water flooding, achieving a recovery factor of 48%, compared to 39% and 37% for native chitosan and water flooding, thereby demonstrating the potential benefits of chitosan composites in enhancing oil recovery operations.
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DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60559-9
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