Polymer Flooding (P) is the addition of water soluble polymer to viscosify injection water in order to reduce its mobility relative to the oil. Reduction of the mobility attempts to overcome poor sweep efficiency that occurs when viscous oil is displaced with lower viscosity water. Most polymer floods use partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide polymer because it is widely available and relatively inexpensive. Polymer concentration ranges from 500 ppm to as high as 3000 ppm in reservoirs with highly viscous oil. Use of conventional polymers is limited to ~80°C unless water with very low hardness is used. Permeability is limited to a minimum of ~10 mD because polymer molecules are large enough to plug the small pore throats found in low permeability formations.
Polymer flooding has been applied successfully throughout the world for over 40 years and it is currently the most widely used chemical flooding technology based on the number of field applications and the volume of polymer injected.
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