Tag Archive for: Viscosity

Polymer flooding is a chemical enhanced oil recovery method that improves the recovery of oil by controlling the mobility of water to oil phase. It uses polymer solutions to increase the viscosity of the displacing water thereby decreasing water/oil mobility ratio (Speight, 2013). The volumetric and displacement sweep efficiencies are positively affected by polymer flooding. The viscosity of the aqueous phase is increased due to the molecular size and structure of the polymer used. The main objective of this research was to study the ability of cornstarch (local polymer) to recover additional oil after conventional water flooding. The objective was successfully achieved by injecting four different unconsolidated samples (sand pack) with cornstarch solution at varying concentration of 500ppm, 1000ppm, 3000ppm, and 9000ppm. From the results of the experiment conducted, it was deduced that Cornstarch has the ability to recover an additional volume of oil about half the volume of oil recovered during conventional water flooding (i.e. if 50% of oil initially in place was recovered during water flooding, cornstarch can recover an additional 25% of the residual oil after water flooding). Also, higher concentrations of cornstarch reduce the recovery factor due to polymer adsorption on the rock surfaces which alters the rock wettability. To reduce the adsorption effect of Cornstarch, it is recommended that the concentration of Cornstarch be measured after the flooding experiments for a better understanding of the adsorption mechanism of cornstarch.