ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

The new low viscosity and high-temperature resistant composite hydrogel

Haiyang Yu, Xinrui Jiang, Wenjuan Ji, Weiqiang Song, Yaming Cao, Fei Yan, Cheng Luo, and Bin Yuan

College of energy and mining engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China

E-mail: yhy_skd@sdust.edu.cn

Received: 15 December 2022  Accepted: 27 February 2023

Abstract:

Steam channeling and bottom water fingering are unfavorable factors affecting the heavy oil thermal recovery, and plugging system is generally used to control steam channeling and bottom water fingering. In this paper, a composite hydrogel, composing silicate, small molecular organic ammonia and small molecular cationic surfactant, were developed to induce a plugging system with low viscosity (close to that of water) before solidifying, and high strength in three-dimensional network structure after solidifying. The solidifying time of the developed system can be adjusted by changing the temperature and concentration and the temperature resistance of the system was tested up to 250 ℃. After aging at 200 ℃ for 35 days, the system still has good plugging ability, and the plugging ability is related with the concentration and permeability. Experiment results show that, the residual resistance coefficient is in negative correlation with the concentration and the permeability. The heterogeneous physical simulation results show that, the composite hydrogel has favorable selectivity in plugging, and the selectivity increases with the increase of permeability difference. The results of homogeneous physical simulation experiment show that the injecting rate has no significant effects on the plugging ability. However, the results of heterogeneous physical simulation experiment show that, with the increase of injecting rate, the residual resistance coefficient of the channel with high permeability decreases gradually, while that with low permeability increases. The research results have a good guiding significance for the on-site implementation of heavy oil thermal recovery.

Keywords: Steam channeling; Composite hydrogel; Low viscosity; High-temperature resistant; Plugging selectivity; Injecting rate

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-023-02764-w

Chemical Papers 77 (7) 3561–3570 (2023)