Fabrication of a highly efficient nanocomposite polymer gel for controlling the excess water production in petroleum reservoirs and increasing the performance of enhanced oil recovery processes

Abstract A new nanocomposite polymer gel is synthesized for reduction of excess water production in petroleum reservoirs at real operating conditions. This new nanocomposite gel contains SiO2 nanoparticles, partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) and chromium triacetate. High pressure and high temperature tests using porous carbonate core are carried out to evaluate the effects of nanoparticles on the synthesized polymer gel performance. It is shown that the residual resistance factor ratio of water to oil using the synthesized polymer gel nanocomposite in this work is much higher than that of the ordinary polymer gels. The presented results confirm the high performance of the synthesized nanocomposite polymer gel for decreasing the water flow through porous carbonate bed. A mathematical model for description of oil and water flow behavior in the presence of synthesized nanocomposite polymer gel is also presented. The presented nano polymer gel leads to considerable cost saving in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes.