Description

The Vinci CHEMFLOOD warrants various chemical flooding experiments including polymer flooding, Alkaline-Surfactant flooding and foam injection. These tertiary EOR methods aim at increasing hydrocarbon recovery via modifications of the fluid and/or rock properties. For instance, polymers increase the injected fluid’s viscosity thereby reducing the oil/water mobility ratio and limiting the viscous fingering phenomenon. Surfactant and alkali have the effect of reducing the interfacial tension between oil and the injected aqueous solution which facilitates recovery because of the decrease in capillary pressure; the process can also alter the rock’s wettability. Moreover, foam can be utilized as a mobility control agent to augment a process’s sweep efficiency. The CHEMFLOOD is the ideal apparatus to perform such EOR processes at reservoir-representative conditions; the results will help developing thorough understanding of the effects of chemical injection compatibility as well as assessing the efficiency of different processes. Moreover, change in permeability, displacement efficiency and incremental oil recovery due to chemical injection can be studied with the CHEMFLOOD.