Masters Theses

Sujay Suresh

Keywords and Phrases

CO2 Flooding; Conformance Control; Gels; PPG; Preformed Particle Gels; Reservoir Heterogeneity

Abstract

"Long term water/gas flooding induces high permeability channels in reservoirs. Reservoir heterogeneity becomes the most prominent challenge faced in mature oil fields. Gel treatment has been a proven solution to counter the problem of reservoir heterogeneity, to provide in-depth treatment and improve the sweep efficiency for reservoirs. Preformed particle gels (PPGs) were developed as an alternative to in-situ gels as they preferentially penetrate and shutoff high permeability zones, leaving the low permeability zones undamaged. These gels have been predominantly used in water flooding projects, but have not been employed in carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding projects. CO2 Resistant Gel (CRG) is a novel PPG synthesized in Missouri S&T for better performance when exposed to CO2. The objective is to present results from a pilot study to analyze the stability of commercially available PPGs and CRGs when exposed to CO2 at varying pressures. The PPGs and CRGs were swollen in distilled water and solutions with salt concentrations of 0.25%, 1.0% and 10.0% NaCl. The swollen gels were placed in vessels designed in our labs, pressurized to 500 psi, 1100 psi, 1900 psi and 2500 psi and exposed to a temperature of 65 deg C for 1, 3 and 5 days. Dehydration, swelling ratio and gel strength of PPG and CRG after exposure to CO2 have been reported. The gels were also analyzed using IR spectroscopy to investigate any chemical changes on exposure to CO2 and studied under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to check for any vivid changes in gel network post exposure to CO2. Results from both gels have been compared and it is seen that CRG performs better than commercially available PPG when exposed to CO2. This static study paves way to understanding how the gel would perform under CO2 before testing it under dynamic conditions"--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Bai, Baojun

Committee Member(s)

Dunn-Norman, Shari
Imqam, Abdulmohsin H.

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Petroleum Engineering

Sponsor(s)

United States. Department of Energy
Conoco Inc.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation
Daqing Wantong Chemical

Publisher

Missouri University of Science and Technology

Publication Date

Spring 2017

Pagination

ix, 79 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 70-78).

Rights

© 2017 Sujay Suresh

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 11122

Electronic OCLC #

992440003

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