Thermal and rheological study of polysaccharides for enhanced oil recovery

Enhanced oil recovery process is based on the injection of chemical products (e.g. polymers, surfactants, gases) or thermal energy (originating from the injection of e.g. steam, hot water, in situ combustion) to recover crude oil. One of these processes use polymer solution to mobilize the oil in the reservoir. In this work the thermal decomposition kinetic of xanthan gum, guar gum and a blend (50/50 mass/mass%) was studied according to Ozawa–Flynn–Wall method. According to the kinetic analysis, the studied systems were copmpatible. The rheological behavior of the samples was studied in distilled water and seawater at different temperatures. Only the blend was studied in distilled water presented synergism (enhancement in material properties like stability and viscosity) which was confirmed through rheology.