On the Role of Polymer Viscoelasticity in Enhanced Oil Recovery: Extensive Laboratory Data and Review.

Polymer flooding most commonly uses partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides (HPAM) injected to increase the declining oil production from mature fields. Apart from the improved mobility ratio, also the viscoelasticity-associated flow effects yield additional oil recovery. Viscoelasticity is defined as the ability of particular polymer solutions to behave as a solid and liquid simultaneously if certain flow conditions, e.

Coupling Microfluidics Data with Core Flooding Experiments to Understand Sulfonated/Polymer Water Injection.

The injection of sulfonated-modified water could be an attractive application as it results in the formation of a mechanically rigid oil-water interface, and hence, possible higher oil recovery in combination with polymer. Therefore, detailed experimental investigation and fluid-flow analysis into porous media are required to understand the possible recovery mechanisms taking place. This paper evaluates the potential influence of low-salt/sulfate-modified water injection in oil recovery using a cross-analyzed approach of coupled microfluidics data and core flooding experiments.