Micellar-Polymer (MP) is similar to SP except higher concentrations of surfactant are used (2% to 12%) injected for lower pore volume (5% to 20%). At these high surfactant concentrations, the polymer and surfactant are incompatible, and so micellar solutions develop viscosity due to structuring of the micelles that often requires the addition of cosurfactants and/or alcohols. This structuring and many other properties of micellar solutions are sensitive to changes in salinity, temperature, etc. The micellar "slug" is followed by a polymer flush as with SP process.
Micellar-Polymer flooding was widely researched by major oil companies as a means to overcome the limitations of surfactant-polymer flooding - principally the adsorption loss of surfactant. The process proved to be technically very successful in field scale demonstration projects by many major oil companies in the 70's and 80's (10% OOIP to 20% OOIP incremental oil), but was then, and would be now uneconomic due to the high concentrations of surfactant used and their associated costs.
SURTEK, INC. 1511 Washington Ave Golden, Colorado 80401 Phone: (303) 278-0877 Email: surtek@surtek.com