Doctoral Dissertations

Paul Tongwa

Keywords and Phrases

Chemical EOR; Conformance Control; Enhanced Oil Recovery; Mature Oilfields; Polymer Flooding; Water Flooding

Abstract

”This work presents two new materials that can be potentially used in conformance control to increase ultimate oil recovery from mature oilfields.

The first product is a degradable nanocomposite preformed particle gel for enhanced in-depth mobility control. Three different types of degradable nanocomposite preformed particle gels were synthesized. These three nanocomposite hydrogels were made using Laponite XLG, Calcium Montmorillonite, and Sodium Montmorillonite nanomaterials. It was observed that after degradation, Laponite XLG nanocomposite hydrogels had the highest post-degradation viscosity (4437 cp), followed by sodium nanocomposite hydrogels (129 cp), and lastly calcium nanocomposite hydrogels (75.5 cp). Thus, degradable Laponite XLG nanocomposite hydrogels are recommended for secondary polymer flooding, since they have the highest post-degradation viscosity under anaerobic conditions.

The second product is an elastomeric rubber gel as a potential fracture-sealing agent. An elastomeric rubber gel has been synthesized from degraded preformed particle gel crosslinked with Poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate and bentonite clay. Elastomeric rubber gel formed using 0.5% degraded preformed particle gel crosslinked with Poly(ethylene glycol) Diacrylate-200 is the most promising since it contains the least amount of degraded preformed particle gel (0.5%), requires the least amount of clay (50%), and has the highest gel strength (93520 Pa). Thus they are potential fracture-sealing materials”--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Bai, Baojun

Committee Member(s)

Nygaard, Runar
Flori, Ralph E.
Dunn-Norman, Shari
Neogi, P. (Partho), 1951-

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Degree Name

Ph. D. in Petroleum Engineering

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Spring 2014

Pagination

xv, 158 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographic references (pages 146-157).

Rights

© 2014 Paul Tongwa, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 12057

Electronic OCLC #

1313117303

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