Improving heavy oil recovery in the polymer flooding process by utilizing hydrophilic silica nanoparticles

ABSTRACTPolymer flooding is an attractive branch of chemical enhanced oil recovery techniques. Regrettably, chemical and mechanical degradation reduces the effectiveness of polymer flooding. This paper explores the effects of silica nanoparticles on flow behavior of polymer solution in porous media by employing both rheological experiments and numerical simulations. Experimental results indicate that dispersed silica nanoparticles in polymer solution are responsible for polymer adsorption reduction and the solution viscosity improvement. Simulation results revealed that if the injectant has some dispersed silica nanoparticles, the cumulative heavy oil recovery and breakthrough time will be bettered compared to the conventional polymer flood.