Perpustakaan Digital ITB

The oil reservoirs in the Perm Krai region in Russia are characterized by high formation water salinity (200–230 g/l) and low reservoir temperature (25–30 °C). Currently, about 75% of their remaining reserves have a water cut of more than 50%. Super absorption polymers, also called preformed particle gels (PPGs), have been widely applied to control water production in oilfields; however, no work has been carried out in this area. Based on the Perm Krai reservoir characteristics, we synthesized a new PPG using a free radical polymerization method through a thermal imidization process. The swelling kinetics and equilibrium of the acquired PPG have been evaluated under different types and concentrations of brines. Core-flooding experiments were conducted using formation sandstone cores to compare the plugging capacity of the new PPG with a traditional polyacrylamide solution. The change in the pore space of the cores was analyzed using X-ray tomography to explore the conformance control mechanisms resulted from PPG treatment. The results show that the PPG can be used in the target oil reservoirs and can plug the pore space of the core six times more than traditional polyacrylamide, indicating that the PPG can efficiently plug large channels and redistribute the water flow to a small pore space.