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    Visualization of Polymer Retention Mechanisms in Porous Media UsingMicrofluidics

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    Name:
    SPE-200557 (1).pdf
    Size:
    1.468Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Description:
    Accepted manuscript
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    Type
    Conference Paper
    Authors
    Sugar, Antonia cc
    Serag, Maged F. cc
    Torrealba, Victor A.
    Buttner, Ulrich
    Habuchi, Satoshi cc
    Hoteit, Hussein cc
    KAUST Department
    Ali I. Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center (ANPERC)
    Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
    Bioscience Program
    Energy Resources & Petroleum Engineering
    Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering Program
    King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
    MicroFluidics
    Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
    Single-Molecule Spectroscopy and Microscopy Research Group
    Date
    2020-06-08
    Online Publication Date
    2020-06-08
    Print Publication Date
    2020
    Permanent link to this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/10754/665191
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Understanding polymer transport through porous media is key to successful field implementations,including well conformance control and EOR processes. Polymer retention is typically assessed indirectlythrough its effect on pressure drops and effluent concentrations. Microfluidic techniques representconvenient tools to observe and quantify polymer retention in porous media. In this paper, we demonstratehow a soft-lithography microfluidics protocol can be used to gain insights into polymer transportmechanisms through rocks. The design of the microfluidic chips honors typical pore-size distributions of oil-bearing conventionalreservoir rocks, with pore-Throats ranging from 2 to 10 um. The fabrication technology enables the designtransfer on a silicon wafer substrate using photolithography. The etched wafer holding the negative patternof the pore-network served as a mold for building the microfluidics chip body out of polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS). The oxygen plasma bonding of the PDMS to a thin glass slide resulted in a sealed microfluidic chip,conceptually referred to as "Reservoir-on-A-Chip". We conduct single-phase polymer flooding experimentson the designed chips to understand how polymer-rock interactions impact polymer transport behavior inrocks. These experiments allow for polymer transport visualization at the molecule-scale owing to the useof polymer tagging and single-molecule tracking techniques. This study presents, for the first time, a direct visualization of polymer retention mechanisms in porousmedia. We identified three mechanisms leading to polymer retention: Adsorption, mechanical entrapment,and hydrodynamic retention. Polymer adsorption on the chip surfaces resulted in flow conductivityreduction in specific pathways and complete blockage in others, inducing alterations in the flowpaths. Thismechanism occurred almost instantaneously during the first minutes of flow then, dramatically diminishedas adsorption was satisfied. In addition to static adsorption, flow-induced adsorption (entrapment) wasalso distinguished from the binding of flowing polymer molecules to the already adsorbed polymer layer.Evidence of polymer desorption was observed, which consents with the presumed reversibility character of polymer retention mechanisms. The narrowest channels along with the reduced area due to adsorption,created favorable conditions for polymer entrapment. Both mechanical and hydrodynamic trapped polymerswere successfully imaged. These phenomena led to polymer clogging of the porous network, which is oneof the major concerns for operational aspects of polymer flooding processes. Better understanding and quantification of polymer retention in porous media can help to make betterdecisions related to field-scale implementations of polymer-based processes in the subsurface. In this study,we used a soft-lithography fabrication technique and single-molecule imaging, to show, for the first time,polymer transport insights at the molecule-and pore-scales. This approach opens a new avenue to improveour understanding of the first principals of polymer retention while flowing through porous media.
    Citation
    Sugar, A., Serag, M. F., Torrealba, V. A., Buttner, U., Habuchi, S., & Hoteit, H. (2020). Visualization of Polymer Retention Mechanisms in Porous Media Using Microfluidics. SPE Europec Featured at 82nd EAGE Conference and Exhibition. doi:10.2118/200557-ms
    Sponsors
    The authors would like to express gratitude to King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) for funding and supporting this work.
    Publisher
    Society of Petroleum Engineers
    Conference/Event name
    SPE Europec Featured at 82nd EAGE Conference and Exhibition
    ISBN
    9781613997123
    DOI
    10.2118/200557-ms
    Additional Links
    http://www.onepetro.org/doi/10.2118/200557-MS
    ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
    10.2118/200557-ms
    Scopus Count
    Collections
    Conference Papers; Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering Program; Ali I. Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center (ANPERC); Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division; Bioscience Program; Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division

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