Abstract
ASP flooding has been found to be one of the major EOR methods of successfully recovering light and medium oil left in the reservoir after primary and secondary oil recovery.
The objective of this study is to evaluate and compare the displacement efficiencies of two Alkali/Surfactant/Polymer slugs formulated with two different surfactants: an anionic and a non-ionic surfactant named Lauryl sulphate (Sodium Dodecyl sulphate, SDS) and Tween 80 (Polysorbate 80), respectively. The alkali employed was caustic soda (Sodium Hydroxide), and the polymer used here was Gum Arabic. Gum Arabic is an organic adhesive gotten from the hardened sap of the Acacia Senegal and Acacia Seyal trees, having similar molecular structure and chemical characteristics with Xanthan Gum, which is a widely used polymer for enhanced oil recovery. Gum Arabic is commercially available in Nigeria. Results from this study will prove the efficacy of Gum Arabic for use in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
In this study, the chemicals were combined in the same composition and concentration to recover trapped oil after conventional water flooding. This was done by linearly flooding a horizontal core holder loaded with glass beads. The results from these experiments show that Lauryl sulphate and Tween 80 are both good candidates for enhanced oil recovery, with incremental recoveries of 36% and 15%, and displacement efficiencies of 90.2% and 77.9% respectively. This paper also covers laboratory and facility design requirements for implementing an ASP project.
