Using surface modified clay nanoparticles to improve rheological behavior of Hydrolized Polyacrylamid (HPAM) solution for enhanced oil recovery with polymer flooding

In this communication, effect of Surface Modified Clay Nanoparticles (SMCN) on rheological behavior of Hydrolized Polyacrylamid (HPAM) solution and also its resistance against the increases in temperature and salinity were investigated experimentally. An increases in polymer solution viscosity result in a decrease in mobility ratio then consequently it may increase the polymer flooding efficiency. High pressures imposed on polymers during flooding processes cause a considerable shear stress on them, which lead to breakage of polymer chains. In addition, at elevated temperatures, certain chemical reactions are accelerated and subsequently this force polymer chains to compress. This kind of behavior (compactness of polymer chains) can be observed in a saline environment. Therefore, polymer viscosity and consequent flooding process efficiency is decreased. To prevent deformation of polymers and increase the internal friction of the solution, surface of certain clay nanoparticles were modified by specific tetrahedral redundants and located between polymer chains. Finally, the potential utilization of these novel clay nanoparticles in improving the performance of polymer flooding on an unconsolidated sandpacks were investigated. According to the results, we suggest 0.1% wt concentration of SMCN as the optimum concentration in which the SMCN-HPAM solution is stable. In addition, results indicate that adding SMCN improves the resistance of polymer solution against an increases in salinity and temperature, and also its shear thinning behavior. Moreover, the experimental result indicates that SMCN-HPAM increases the oil recovery about 33% more than ordinary polymer flooding processes. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.