Polymer Retention and Adsorption in the Flow of Polymer Solutions Through Porous Media

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Abstract
Summary: A new experimental technique based on a surface treatment process was developed for determining mobility reduction as a result of polymer adsorption in flow of polymer solutions through porous media. The experimental method also allowed the direct determination of adsorptive and nonadsorptive polymer retention from flow experiments. The adsorptive mobility reduction for the flow of polyacrylamide (J333™) mobility control polymer through silica sand was found to be as high as 14% at the lowest experimental stress level of 3.75 dynes/cm2 [0.375 Pa]. This corresponded to an effective hydrodynamic thickness (EHT) of the adsorbed polymer layer of 0.57 μm. Both the mobility reduction and the EHT decreased with an increase in shear stress. The amount of adsorptive polymer retention accounted for about 35.2% of the total retained polymer.

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