Improved Scleroglucan for Polymer Flooding Under Harsh Reservoir Conditions

SummaryPolymer flooding is commonly used to improve water sweep efficiency in oil reservoirs. Successful application of this method, however, has been restricted to low-temperature reservoirs because suitable polymers are not available for harsh conditions. Scleroglucan, a polymer produced by fermentation that shows promising properties, forms solutions that are very viscous and highly resistant to shear. Viscosity is insensitive to both salts and pH and only slightly affected by temperature. To facilitate industrial development of scleroglucan polymer, improvements in the filterability of the solutions and better knowledge of their behavior in pOrous media are necessary. A high-quality scleroglucan was obtained by eliminating the impurities responsible for polymer aggregation. This allowed evaluation of the intrinsic properties of the polymer molecules. Complete elimination of impurities from the polymer solution led to a scleroglucan without any aggregation tendency and with a good filterability, particularly at high temperatures. The performance of this improved scleroglucan in porous media was evaluated by coreflood experiments in Berea cores at temperatures ranging from 30 to 90°C. Results showed low permeability reduction and a mobility reduction close to relative viscosity. Injection of successive slugs into a Berea core under anaerobie conditions indicated low polymer retention at high temperatures (30 p.g/g at 90°C).