Simulation study of polymer microgel conformance treatments
| dc.contributor.advisor | Sepehrnoori, Kamy, 1951- | en |
| dc.contributor.committeeMember | Delshad, Mojdeh | en |
| dc.creator | Abdulbaki, Mazen Ramzi | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-11-06T20:03:00Z | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2017-05-11T22:29:24Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2012-11-06T20:03:00Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2017-05-11T22:29:24Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2012-08 | en |
| dc.date.submitted | August 2012 | en |
| dc.date.updated | 2012-11-06T20:03:16Z | en |
| dc.description | text | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Significant quantities of hydrocarbon are bypassed during conventional waterfloods. This is the direct result of fluid channeling through high permeability zones within the reservoir. Conformance control offers a mean of increasing vertical and areal sweep efficiency, thus decreasing the amount of hydrocarbon bypassed. This, in turn, results in increased hydrocarbon production, decreased water cut, and field life extension. This thesis focuses on the use of polymer microgels as a relatively novel conformance control agent. Polymer-microgel-enhanced waterflooding tackles fluid channeling by “plugging” high permeability channels, or thief zones, and diverting trailing flooding fluid to adjacent poorly swept areas of the reservoir. The first major objective of this thesis was to provide an extensive literature survey on polymer microgel technology, which can serve as the go-to reference on this topic. Colloidal Dispersion Gels (CDGs), Preformed Particle Gels (PPGs), temperature-sensitive polymer microgels (Bright Water), and pH-sensitive polymer microgels are all discussed in detail, and an attempt is made to highlight the potential mechanisms by which they plug thief zones and improve oil recovery. This thesis then outlines the results of simulating numerous polymer microgel floods, ranging from experimental cases to field cases. Specifically, Colloidal Dispersion Gels (CDGs) were chosen for the simulations undergone. All simulations were run using UTGEL, a newly developed in-house simulator designed exclusively for the simulation of polymer, gel, and microgel floods. The simulations performed provide insight on the polymer microgel flooding process, and also served as a means of validating UTGEL’s polymer microgel (CDG) models. The development of the UTGEL simulator was important as it enables the optimization of polymer microgel floods for maximized hydrocarbon recovery efficiency. The results of a simulation study, using a synthetic field case, are also outlined. This sensitivity study provides additional insight on optimal operational conditions for polymer microgel technology. More specifically, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of microgel flooding treatments in layered reservoirs of varying permeability contrasts, vertical-to-horizontal permeability ratios, and under a variety of different injection concentrations. | en |
| dc.description.department | Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.slug | 2152/ETD-UT-2012-08-5936 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2012-08-5936 | en |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en |
| dc.subject | Polymer microgels | en |
| dc.subject | Conformance control | en |
| dc.subject | Reservoir simulation | en |
| dc.title | Simulation study of polymer microgel conformance treatments | en |
| dc.type.genre | thesis | en |