MECHANISM OF FORMATION DAMAGE USING ALKALINE FLOODING

Alkaline flooding, also known as caustic flooding, is the process of injecting alkaline into the reservoir in order to enhanced oil recovery. Even though it has the ability to increase production, using alkali would also mean a greater reactivity with the reservoir rocks which could also lead to damaging effects on the permeability. Hence, in order to investigate the extent of the formation damage, experiments will be conducted. The experiments will be done using core flooding and the permeability obtained from it are interpreted and discussed. This experiment will not just focus on the permeability but also the visualization of any form of particles migration and plugging which leads to permeability reduction by using the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). In addition, software will be used in order to determine the skin for alkaline flooding and will be compared to the experimental value. Hence, this will provide a possible way for estimating the formation damage in alkaline flooding. In this report, a literature review is done on the general understanding of alkaline flooding, formation damage and how both are related. This investigation is important in order to be able to see how much damage alkaline flooding can cause to the formation which will then help to identify any mitigation and benefits of its uses in the field