Kinetics of Polymer Retention in Porous Media and its Influence in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Applications

A research project consisting of experimental studies has been planned and executed
successfully to generate information required for the performance of enhanced oil
recovery (EOR) by chemical flooding employing polymer. This paper ultimately
covers the theoretical and the experimental works, which include the studies of
adsorption kinetics and equilibrium characteristics of the polymer on reservoir rocks
and its flooding performance. This research is particularly interesting with huge
opportunities to learn on how the performance of polymers for enhanced oil recovery
(EOR) can be remarkably enhanced, by introducing surfactant and alkali to polymer
backbone, which allows the new class of modified polymers to have more promising
oilfield application.