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Polymer flooding has shown to be effective in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). In recent years biopolymers have attracted the attention of the petroleum Industry. Recently, it was identified that using biopolymer schizophyllan for polymer flooding operations has advantages primary benefit being environmentally friendly factor as well as stability under high salinity and temperature conditions. This biopolymer is commercially produced from the fungus schizophyllum commune using glucose as a carbon source via a fermentation process. However, the processing of this biopolymer is not economical due to the sources utilized in its production. This study aims to investigate the biopolymer schizophyllan produced utilizing locally and cheaply available sources in Malaysia for its rheological property at various range of salinity and temperature conditions. The experimental results showed that, viscosity of schizophyllan remains independent of salinity because of its non-ionic nature. Further, it was found that the loss in viscosity at high temperature was insignificant. This study will provide an alternative schizophyllan biopolymer from local sources that has potential in terms of properties and economics, making it available at any time of year and contributing to the field of polymer flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting oil reserves has been a priority in recent years due to the high demand for energy. One method proposed to overcome the drawbacks of standard chemical enhanced oil recovery is the usage of emulsion flooding. Enhancing emulsion stability is important to ensure its performance. Moreover, the viscosity should be maintained to ensure its capability in pushing the reservoir oil. Synergistic effect between surfactants and nanoparticles has been suggested to achieve the intended viscosity and stability for emulsions. This article reviews this effect between nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100) and silica nanoparticles (SNP) in enhancing the emulsion viscosity and stability with varying the weight ratio of SNP to Triton X-100. The apparent viscosity of the emulsion was measured, and bottle test was used to investigate emulsion stability. It was observed that emulsion viscosity has peaked to 87 cP with weight ratio of 0.5 compared to 12 cP with no added SNP. Moreover, the 0.5 weight ratio of SNP to Triton X-100 was proved to be the most stable emulsion among the investigated samples in this article; where emulsion phase height percentage has experienced a decrease (measure of emulsion stability) up to 40% compared to 55% decrease in the case of using Triton X-100 surfactant only. This has shown that nonionic surfactant and nanoparticles (NPs) with the usage of a proper weight ratio can be used in enhancing the emulsion viscosity and stability. Hence, these emulsions could be used applications of utilizing emulsion as a flooding method where the stability of the emulsion and its viscosity is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the application of primary and secondary recovery methods, a significant amount of oil gets left behind in the reservoir. Thus, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods are the only viable options. Polymer flooding has been widely used for many years. The ability of a polymer to sustain high temperature and salinity reservoir conditions, while taking into account the cost of the polymer, is a challenging aspect of its application in polymer flooding. Due to the forthcoming environmental regulation, the eco-friendly biopolymers have been gaining importance. This study aims to investigate the biopolymer schizophyllan produced utilizing locally and cheaply available sources in Malaysia for its rheological property at various range of biopolymer concentration. Also, the effect of aging at high temperature on the biopolymer viscosity was studied. A core flooding experiment was also performed utilizing a Berea sandstone core at an 80 °C reservoir temperature and a salinity of 90,000 ppm. The rheological studies showed a shear thinning behavior at all biopolymer concentrations. The effect of aging up to a period of 6 months exhibited insignificant decrease in biopolymer viscosity. Core flooding experiments using the biopolymer derived from local sources showed an incremental oil recovery of 17.25% after waterflooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]