Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 194 (2020) 107503

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol

Formation mechanism and location distribution of blockage during

polymer flooding
Fang Wang a, b, Hongbin Yang a, b, Haizhuang Jiang a, b, Xin Kang a, b, Xiaoyu Hou a, b,
Tongyu Wang a, b, Bobo Zhou a, b, Bauyrzhan Sarsenbekuly a, b, c, Wanli Kang a, b, *
a
Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development (China University of Petroleum (East China)), Ministry of Education, Qingdao, 266580, PR China
b
School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, PR China
c
Kazakh-British Technical University, Almaty, 050000, Kazakhstan

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The blockage produced during polymer flooding can lead to a significant decline in reservoir productivity. The
Blockage composition of the oilfield scale is very complicated, and formation mechanism and location distribution of
Composite scale blockage are unclear. In this work, the composition of the oilfield scale produced during polymer flooding was
Component analysis
analyzed by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), infrared spectrum analysis (FI-IR), X-ray diffraction analysis
Formation mechanism
(XRD), and scanning electron microscopy observation (SEM). The formation mechanism of the blockage was
Location distribution
studied by means of water compatibility experiment, core flooding experiment, swelling experiment, and
polymer retention experiment. The location distribution of blockage was explored by physical simulation
displacement experiment using the long sand pack tube. The results show that the oilfield scale is composed of
polymer, inorganic substances, water, and crude oil. Various components are interdependent and entangled in
the scale. After the polymer solution is injected into the formation, the “fish eye” scale and inorganic salt crystal/
polymer scale are produced in the near-injection well zone. Through scale migration and fine particle exfoliation,
there occurs the complex composite scale combined by migrated scale and fine particles as well as the newly-
generated fine particle/polymer flocculent scale. When the scale encounters with crude oil, the asphaltene
from crude oil can be adsorbed and precipitated on the scale surface, leading to the oil-wrapped composite scale.
Besides, the injected polymer can be adsorbed and captured in the oil layer, causing the decrease of the layer
permeability. With decrease of oil layer permeability, various scale is deposited and bridge-blocked in the oil
layer, causing the blockage during the polymer flooding process. After three displacement stages of water
flooding, polymer flooding, and subsequent water flooding, blockage is produced in all zones of oil layer, with
the most severe blockage in the middle zone near the injection well. The study can provide a theoretical basis for
the subsequent research on the blockage-removing fluid systems suitable for polymer flooding reservoirs.

1. Introduction injected polymer solution and the continuous extension of injection

As the majority of oilfields have entered the high water cut stage,
chemical flooding has been an essential enhanced oil recovery method
(EOR) (Al-Shammari et al., 2011; Abidin et al., 2012; Chen et al., 2018b,
2018c). Thereinto, polymer flooding is widely developed and applied
because of the relatively low cost and the simple synthesis approach
(Brantson et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2020a). Polymer flooding method can
enhance oil recovery by decreasing the water/oil mobility ratio and then
increasing the sweep efficiency (Yang et al., 2019a, 2020b). However,
during the polymer flooding process, with the continuous increase of
time, corresponding blockage in the oil layer becomes increasingly
prominent (Kang, 2020; Dong et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2019b). The
blockage can impede the effective penetration of the subsequent poly­
mer solution from the injection well, which further affects the crude oil
yield of the production well. In severe cases, the blockage can lead to a
significant decline in production or even no production (Andersen et al.,
2000; Shakkthivel et al., 2004). As a consequence, EOR effects of
polymer flooding method and economic benefits of reservoir are
decreased remarkably.
At present, in order to solve the blockage problems during polymer

* Corresponding author. School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, PR China.
E-mail address: kangwanli@upc.edu.cn (W. Kang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2020.107503
Received 17 April 2020; Received in revised form 1 June 2020; Accepted 3 June 2020
Available online 7 June 2020
0920-4105/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
F. Wang et al.
flooding and further promote the blockage-removing technology
development, extensive research has been done to study the blocking
causes and mechanisms during polymer flooding (Meng et al., 2011;
Chen et al., 2018a; Guo, 2017). There are a number of factors contrib­
uting to the blockage during polymer flooding. Polymer retention,
including polymer adsorption which can diminish the pore diameter and
polymer capture which can block the narrow pore throats, is an inevi­
table mode of blockage during polymer flooding (Liu et al., 2013;
Oulanti et al., 2009). Furthermore, the poorly dissolved polymer dry
powder and bacteria in the injection fluid can result in soft particle scale
blocking in the oil layer (Wood and Spark, 2000). The incompatibility
between the injection water and the formation water can lead to the
blockage of inorganic salt crystal scale (Shabani et al., 2019). Moreover,
the exfoliation and migration of clay particles in the layer can further
aggravate the blockage (Gabriel and Inamdar, 1983). For some heavy oil
reservoir, the resin and asphaltene from crude oil can be flocculated and
deposited, forming the organic scale blockage (Khormali et al., 2018;
Wang et al., 2016). Besides, it is proved that interactions between
inorganic scale (such as inorganic salt scale and fine particles) and
organic substances (such as polymer molecules and heavy hydrocarbons
from crude oil) can lead to the organic-inorganic compound scale (Chen
et al., 2018a,b,c; Lu et al., 2016). Above various research mainly focuses
on the theoretical forming mechanisms of blockage and is lack of oilfield
practicability. So it is necessary to further study the consecutive for­
mation mechanism of blockage during the whole polymer flooding
process and then clarify the location distribution of blockage in the oil
layer.
In this study, taking the blockage of the polymer flooding oil layer in
Bohai oilfield (China) as an example, based on the analysis about genetic
mechanisms of various scale and interaction mechanisms among various
scale, the consecutive formation mechanism of blockage during the
whole polymer flooding process was summarized, and the location
distribution of blockage in the oil layer was obtained through the
physical simulation displacement experiment. The study intends to
provide a theoretical basis for the subsequent research on the blockage-
removing fluid systems suitable for polymer flooding reservoirs.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Oilfield blocking scale and polymer dry powder were provided by
Bohai oilfield (China). The polymer is a kind of commercial applicable
product (Guangya Technology Ltd, Sichuan, China). The viscosity-
averaged molecular weight (Mη) of the polymer is approximately
1800 � 104, and the density of dry powder is 1.1 g/cm3 (Zou et al.,
2014). The polymer structure is shown in Fig. 1. Sodium carbonate
(Na2CO3), sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), sodium
bicarbonate (NaHCO3), calcium chloride (CaCl2), magnesium chloride
hexahydrate (MgCl2), potassium chloride (KCl), and hydrochloric acid
(HCl) were all analytical grade and purchased from Sinopharm Chemical
Reagent Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). The oil used in this study was
dehydrated crude oil from Bohai oilfield (China). The properties of
crude oil are shown in Table 1. The injection water and formation water
provided by Bohai oilfield were filtered. Then the ICP MS-2030
Fig. 1. The molecular structure of the oilfield polymer.
2
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 194 (2020) 107503
inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (Thermo Electron Corp,
America) was used to detect the anion and cation composition and
content of the filtered injection water and formation water. The
composition of injection water and formation water was shown in
Table 2. The injection water and formation water used in this paper were
simulated injection water and formation water made up of salts and
distilled water according to the ion content of two water sources.
2.2. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis
Blockage structure and polymer powder structure were character­
ized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis, carried
out by KBr disk tablet method, using a Nexus FT-IR spectrometer
(Nicolet Inc., USA).
2.3. Thermal gravimetric analysis
The thermal gravimetric analysis was carried out by STA49F3
synchronal thermal analyzer (Netzsch company, Germany). With the
temperature increasing from room temperature up to 1000 � C, the oven-
dried scale sample was measured. With the temperature increasing from
room temperature up to 850 � C, the polymer powder sample was
measured. Then the relationship curves between sample weight and
temperature were obtained.
2.4. X-ray diffraction analysis
X’Pert PRO X-ray diffractometer (Panalytical ICP, Holland) was used
to characterize the blockage microstructure. The measurement condi­
tions were: maximum power 3 kW, goniometer radius 135–320 mm, X-
ray tube voltage 45 KV, tube current 50 mA, minimum step length
0.0001� , 2θ range 0� –167� , scanning method θ/θ or 2θ/θ.
2.5. Micrograph measurement
The micrograph was observed by Hitachi S4800 (Hitachi Company,
Japan) field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The sample
of blockage was treated by air-drying in a dryer and spray-gold.
2.6. Water compatibility experiment
The simulated injection water and simulated formation water were
mixed in various volume ratios (3: 7, 4: 6, 5: 5, 6: 4, and 7: 3). Then the
mixtures were sealed and heated in 65 � C thermostat water bath for 24
h. Whether there occurred precipitation could be observed. Meanwhile,
the same simulated injection water with polymer dissolved in them were
added to the simulated formation water. Then the compounding solu­
tions were also heated in 65 � C thermostat water bath for 24 h to observe
the precipitation situation.
2.7. Core flooding experiments
According to the actual development condition of Bohai oilfield, the
core flooding tests were carried out using the one-dimensional homo­
geneous cores. The schematic of core flooding tests is shown in Fig. 2.
The experimental setup consisted of constant flow pump, three stirring
vessels, a core gripper and the pressure transducers connected to a
computer for continuous recording of the inlet pressure. The core
flooding experiments included polymer retention experiment, inorganic
salt crystal/polymer scale blockage experiment, and oil-wrapped scale
blockage experiment. All the core flooding tests were conducted at the
reservoir temperature of 65 � C. The size of the homogeneous cores is
ϕ25 � 300 mm.
2.7.1. Polymer retention experiment
Considering the reservoir heterogeneity, four cores with different
F. Wang et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 194 (2020) 107503

Table 1
Properties of dehydrated crude oil from Bohai oilfield.
Overground Density (g/cm3) Viscosity (mPa⋅s) Freezing point Wax content Resin content Asphaltene content

Undergroud Degas ( C)
�
(%) (%) (%)

0.992 154.7 1982 6 1.61 12.53 10.48

Table 2
Bohai oilfield formation water and injection water.
Composition Cation (mg/L) Anion (mg/L) Total (mg/L)

Naþ/Kþ Ca2þ Mg2þ Cl CO2-

3 HCO3 SO2-
4

Formation water 3183.2 128.3 26.7 4847.8 147.1 241.3 67.1 8641.5
Injection water 2620.7 235.8 58.2 4506.6 11.5 45.1 187.9 7665.8

h. Residual resistance factor was calculated by the following formula:

k0
Residual resistance factor ¼ ​ (2)
kt

2.7.2. Inorganic salt crystal/polymer scale blockage experiment

The core of R5 with the permeability of 328.58 � 10 3μm2 was used
to conduct the inorganic salt crystal/polymer scale blockage experi­
ment. The core was initially saturated with formation water. At the in­
jection rate of 0.1 mL/min, the core was injected with 2 PV polymer/
formation water solution and then 5 PV injection water. The injection
pressure was real-time recorded.

Fig. 2. Schematic of core flooding experiments. 2.7.3. Oil-wrapped scale blockage experiment
The oil-wrapped scale blockage experiment was also carried out with
permeability were used to measure the effects of polymer retention on the R5 core. After being saturated with formation water, the core was
the core permeability. The four cores were labeled as R1, R2, R3, and R4. injected with 2 PV polymer/formation water solution at the rate of 0.1
The permeability data of the cores are shown in Table 3. mL/min. Then 5 PV crude oil was injected as experimental group. The
The experiment was conducted in the following process: injection pressure data was real-time recorded. After the experimental
group measurement was finished, the core was cleaned, and then for­
a. The polymer solution was prepared by polymer dry powder and mation water saturation step and 2 PV polymer/formation water in­
formation water. The concentration of the polymer solution was jection step were repeated. Then 5 PV polymer/distilled water solution
2000 mg/L. with the same viscosity as crude oil in experimental group was injected
b. The porosity of core was measured using weight method. as contrast group. The injection pressure data was real-time recorded.
c. The formation water was injected into the core at injection rates of
0.2 mL/min, 0.4 mL/min, and 0.6 mL/min respectively, and the 2.8. Sand pack tube flooding experiment
stable injection pressures were recorded. The core permeability was
calculated according to Darcy’s law, and the initial permeability k0 The schematic of the sand pack tube flooding experiment is the same
was obtained by the average of three testing values. as the core flooding experiments. The sand pack tube was made of quartz
d. At the injection rate of 0.2 mL/min, the core was injected with 10 PV sand combined of 40 mesh (90%) and 150 mesh (10%). The length of the
polymer solution, and then the formation water was injected until sand pack tube was 100 cm while the cross-sectional diameter was 2.5
there was no polymer solution produced. cm. The sand pack tube was averagely divided into four zones, and the
e. The core permeability kt was calculated again using the same distribution of four zones (I，II，III，Ⅳ) and four pressure measuring
method. points (P1, P2, P3, P4) are shown in Fig. 2. The average permeability of
f. Change different cores, and repeat the above experimental steps. sand pack tube was 253.38 � 10 3 μm2 and the degree of porosity was
g. Permeability damage rate was calculated by the following formula: 27.95%, which were consistent with the oil layer characteristics. The
ðk0 kt Þ flooding experiment was conducted at the reservoir temperature of 65
Permeability damage rate ¼ ​ � 100% (1) �
C.
k0
The experiment was conducted in the following process:
a. The polymer solution was prepared by polymer dry powder and
simulated injection water. The concentration of the polymer solution
Table 3 was 2000 mg/L.
Experimental data of polymer retention experiment. b. The porosity of the sand pack tube was measured using weight
Core Before flooding After flooding Residual Permeability method, and permeability measurement was conducted using Darcy’s
permeability k0 permeability kt resistance damage rate Law.
(10 3μm2) (10 3μm2) factor (%) c. At the injection rate of 1 mL/min, the sand pack tube was saturated
R1 161.36 1.954 82.40 98.79 with crude oil (72%) and formation water (28%), which was consistent
R2 291.35 7.482 38.94 97.43 with oil saturation in oil layer.
R3 395.03 29.371 13.45 92.56 d. The simulated injection water was injected into the sand pack tube
R4 1010.84 405.96 2.49 59.84
at the rate of 1 mL/min until the water cut was over 98%.

3
F. Wang et al. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 194 (2020) 107503

e. Then the polymer solution was injected into the sand pack tube at
the rate of 1 mL/min until pressure values kept stable.
f. The subsequent injection water was injected until pressure values
stabilized.
g. The pressure values at four pressure measuring points were real-
time recorded. And then the pressure drop values of four zones were
calculated by pressure difference between adjacent pressure measuring
points.
2.9. Swelling experiment
The same-weight oilfield scale and oil-removing scale were respec­
tively added into the same-volume formation water. Then the mixtures
were placed in the oven of 65 � C to soak for 12 h. The dissolution change
and volume change of the two scale samples were observed.

Fig. 3. Analysis of the oilfield scale.

4
F. Wang et al.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Component analysis of the scale from polymer flooding
By drying the oilfield scale sample in the oven, it is found that there is
a high content of water in the oilfield scale. By using Soxhlet extractor to
extract oil from the scale, it is proved that there is crude oil component
in the scale.
Through analyzing the infrared spectrum of the oilfield scale (Fig. 3
(a)), there is stretching vibration peak of 3421.4 cm 1 representing the
–NH2 in primary amide, bending vibration peak of 1380.1 cm 1 repre­
senting the –CH2 group, stretching vibration peaks of 2940.8 cm 1
representing the –CH3 group, stretching vibration peaks of 1450.0 cm 1
representing the C–N in primary amide, stretching vibration peak of
1654.7 cm 1 representing the C– – O in primary amide, and stretching
vibration peak of 1050.3 cm 1 representing the C–N in quaternary
ammonium monomer. All of these peaks are consistent with the peaks in
the spectrum of polymer powder, which indicates polymer component is
involved in the oilfield scale.
Fig. 3 (b) shows the TGA curves of the oilfield scale and polymer
powder. It is seen that the weight change of the scale can be divided into
three stages during temperature rising process. In the first stage, the
temperature is below 200 � C and a small amount of light oil volatilizes.
In the second stage, the temperature is between 200 � C and 680 � C.
which is consistent with the degradation temperature of the polymer
powder. It can be deduced that the sharp decrease in scale sample
weight is because of the polymer component degradation. In the third
stage, the sample weight remains unchanged while temperature con­
tinues to rise. This is because the remaining inorganic components in the
sample cannot degrade.
According to the XRD spectra of the scale (Fig. 4), it mainly contains
tridymite (20.96), quartz and analcite (26.71), sodium feldspar and
potassium feldspar (28.5), quick lime (40.00), and magnesia (42.5). The
main components of tridymite, quartz, sodium feldspar, and potassium
feldspar are silica and silicate, which suggests the existence of rock
minerals. The main components of analcite, quick lime, and magnesia
are calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate, which suggests the
existence of carbonate components.
The above results prove that components of the oilfield scale are
polymer, inorganic substances, water, and crude oil. In order to clarify
the microscopic morphology of the scale, the scale morphology observed
by SEM electron microscope is shown in Fig. 3 (c). It can be seen that the
scale appears as composite aggregate formed by the entanglement of
polymer molecules in which a large number of inorganic particles are
wrapped. The scale exhibits a large area of irregular surface. The result
further illustrates that the oilfield scale is complex composite aggregate
Fig. 4. XRD pattern of the oilfield scale.
5
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 194 (2020) 107503
with the interdependence and entanglement of various components.
3.2. The sources of blockage
Based on the component analysis of the oilfield scale, the genetic
mechanisms of various components and the interaction mechanisms
among different components are discussed, and then the sources of
blockage are obtained.
3.2.1. Scale source from injected fluid
With regard to polymer flooding, high molecular weight polymer is
usually used to increase the viscosity of flooding system so as to improve
the water/oil mobility ratio and finally enhance oil recovery. The par­
ticle size distribution of the oilfield polymer dry powder was studied and
shown in Fig. 5 (a). It can be seen that polymer powder size distribution
is uneven and the proportion of polymer powder with particle size more
than 50 mesh is relatively high. Moreover, because of the space limita­
tion of offshore platform, the dissolution time of polymer powder in the
dissolution tank is limited. With the limited dissolution time, small
particles can dissolve completely while large particles dissolve incom­
pletely. Therefore, there are a small quantity of incompletely dissolved
“fish eye” polymer particles (Fig. 5 (b)) carried by the completely dis­
solved polymer solution to the formation (Chen et al., 2011; Xu et al.,
2005). Most of the “fish eye” particles are deposited in the near-injection
well zone, causing the blockage. A small portion of them are migrated to
deep zones of the oil layer.
3.2.2. Scale source from water incompatibility
Through analyzing ionic composition and content of the injection
water and the formation water, it is indicated that the injection water
contains relatively high concentration of Ca2þ and Mg2þ while the for­
mation water contains high concentration of HCO3 and CO23 . With the
injection water and the formation water mixed under the reservoir
temperature, it can be observed that a large amount of white precipitate
appears in the mixtures. Fig. 6 is the XRD pattern analysis of the white
precipitate. There exist crystal forms of aragonite (26.33), calcite
(29.57), dolomite (33.24), quick lime (39.57), and magnesia (43.04).
The main components of these minerals are calcium carbonate and
magnesium carbonate, which suggests that incompatibility between
injection water and formation water can contribute to the emergence of
calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate inorganic crystal
substances.
In order to further study the effect of polymer on the inorganic salt
crystal, the polymer/injection water solution was also mixed with the
formation water under the reservoir temperature. Compared with mix­
tures of injection water and formation water, there is more white pre­
cipitate produced in the compounding solutions with polymer. So it can
be indicated that polymer molecules can combine with inorganic salt
crystal to form more precipitate. Besides, the inorganic salt crystal/
polymer composite scale simulation displacement experiment was car­
ried out and its injection pressure curve is shown in Fig. 7 (a). After the
polymer/formation water solution is injected into the core, the injection
pressure increases significantly, which is mainly due to the displacement
effect of the high-viscosity polymer solution. When the injection water is
subsequently injected into the core, the injection pressure continues to
rise and fluctuate. The subsequent injection water can react with the
formation water in the core to generate inorganic salt crystal particles.
Afterwards, the polymer molecules can be adhered to these particles to
form the inorganic salt crystal/polymer scale, which severely blocks the
core pores and causes the injection pressure rising and fluctuating.
There has been much research on the interaction mechanism of
polymer molecules and inorganic salt crystal particles (Jordan et al.,
2005; Wang et al., 2006). It is widely believed that the inorganic salt
crystal produced by the water incompatibility can act as the crystal
nuclei. Due to the hydrogen bonding force, van der Waals force, and
electrostatic force, polymer molecules are easily adsorbed on the nuclei,
F. Wang et al.
Fig. 5. Formation of “fish eye” scale.
Fig. 6. XRD pattern of inorganic white precipitate.
forming the composite particles. With the charged carboxylate group
and quaternary ammonium group in the polymer, there exists electro­
static interaction between polymer molecules and charged ions adsor­
bed on inorganic salt crystal surface. With the –H in polymer amide
group and –OH adsorbed on the carbonate crystal surface, there exists
hydrogen bonding interaction between the polymer and the inorganic
salt crystal surface. With the increase in the number of inorganic salt
crystal particles, polymer molecules can further work as the bridge
among different particles, resulting in the flocculation and precipitation
(Fig. 7 (b)). The precipitate can be deposited on the rock surface or form
Fig. 7. Formation of inorganic salt crystal/polymer scale.
6
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 194 (2020) 107503
bridge blockage outside the narrow pore. Besides, with the flow of
flooding fluid, some precipitate can be carried and migrated to the
deeper zones of the oil layer.
3.2.3. Scale source from fine particle exfoliation
According to the geological property analysis of the rock formation
in Bohai oilfield, the sandstone’s cementation matter is mainly mud and
the cementing strength is low. So it can be considered that fine migration
is easy to occur under the action of external fluids especially the polymer
solution with high viscosity (Valdya et al., 1992; Hibbeler et al., 2003).
The exfoliated fine particles can further promote the scale development.
The XRD analysis of the oilfield scale in 3.1 illustrates that there are
inorganic minerals of tridymite, quartz, sodium feldspar, and potassium
feldspar in the oilfield scale, which is consistent with the layer sandstone
components. What’ more, bare rock particles can be seen in the drying
oil-removing scale (Fig. 4), which intuitively proves that the fine par­
ticles are exfoliated and mixed into the composite scale. The microscopic
morphology of the oilfield scale in Fig. 3 (c) shows that a large number of
inorganic particles are wrapped in the composite scale, which proves the
existence of fine particles in the scale from a microscopic perspective.
Under the erosion by polymer solution fluid, the loosely cemented
fine particles are exfoliated and migrated (Li and Prigiobbe, 2018). On
the one hand, the fine particles can act as crystal nuclei, and then the
polymer molecules are adsorbed on them, causing the flocculent pre­
cipitate. On the other hand, the exfoliated fine particles can be entangled
into the migrated “fish eye” scale and inorganic salt crystal/polymer
scale, causing more complex composite scale with fine particles. Both
two kinds of novel scale with fine particles are easy to cause bridge
F. Wang et al.
blockage in the oil layer. Still, some scale is migrated forwards to the
production well direction.
3.2.4. Scale source from crude oil wrapping
According to the property analysis of the crude oil in Bohai oilfield,
the oil belongs to heavy oil which contains high content of resin and
asphaltene. So the asphaltene component in crude oil is easy to separate
out (Leontaritis et al., 1994; Houchin and Hudson, 1986). In order to
explore the effect of crude oil on the blockage, the core displacement
experiment was done. Crude oil and polymer solution of the same vis­
cosity were respectively injected into the core which had been blocked
by the composite scale, and the injection pressure results are shown in
Fig. 8. No matter whether crude oil or polymer solution is injected into
the core, the injection pressure performs a rising and fluctuating trend.
However, the increase of the injection pressure when injecting crude oil
is larger than the increase when injecting the polymer solution. Under
the condition of injecting polymer solution, a large number of polymer
molecules can play a role in boosting the composite scale and then
aggravating the blockage. So the injection pressure rises and fluctuates
to a certain extent. It can be deduced that crude oil has a more promi­
nent effect on promoting the scale development and aggravating the
blockage.
The heavy oil is a colloidal system, with asphaltene and resin as the
dispersed phase, with aromatics and alkanes as the continuous phase
(Park and Mansoori, 1987; Sawatzky et al., 1992). As the decrease of
crude oil system pressure and influence of flow electromotive force, the
petroleum colloid system is out of balance and its asphaltene is easy to
separate out from crude oil. The specific means are adsorption and
precipitation (Choi et al., 2016; Hamidian et al., 2020; Liao et al., 2005;
Burke et al., 1990). On the one hand, due to the hydrogen bonding force,
van der Waals’ force, coordination interaction, and ion exchange
interaction, the asphaltene is easy to be adsorbed on the surface of
inorganic solid particles (Al-Maamari and Buckley, 2003). On the other
hand, with the petroleum colloid scystem out of balance, the charged
polar asphaltene molecules can gather together by electrostatic inter­
action, and gradually form super micelles, then clusters, then flocs, and
final precipitate (Mansoori, 1997). Under the combined effect of two
means, the asphaltene is gradually adsorbed and precipitated on the
scale surface, forming the protective oil film. The scale can develop into
the oil-wrapped scale.
In order to find out the mechanism of oil-wrapped scale on aggra­
vating blockage, the swelling experiment was performed on the oilfield
scale and the oil-removing composite scale, and the result is shown in
Fig. 9. The oilfield scale does not swell after soaking in the formation
water for a period of time while the oil-removing scale swells gradually
with the soaking time increasing. It can be indicated that the cover of
crude oil can make the scale impervious to the formation water and
protect them from being carried by flooding fluid. Thus, the oil-wrapped
Fig. 8. Injection pressure curves of oil-wrapped scale blockage experiment.
7
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 194 (2020) 107503
Fig. 9. Swelling performance of the oilfield scale and the oil-removing com­
posite scale.
scale is trapped more firmly in the layer and causes more severe bridge
blockage.
3.2.5. Blockage source from polymer retention
Besides the blockage caused by the above scale, polymer retention
including polymer adsorption and polymer capture is an inevitable
mode of blockage during polymer flooding. Through comparing the core
permeability before and after the polymer flooding, the blocking effects
caused by polymer retention can be characterized. Because of the oil
layer heterogeneity, there were four cores with different permeability
measured. The experimental data is shown in Table 3. It can be seen that
all of the four cores perform high permeability damage rate and residual
resistance factor, which indicates the core pores are severely blocked by
the polymer retention. Moreover, core permeability damage rate is
higher when the original permeability of the core is lower, suggesting
the blockage caused by polymer retention in lower-permeability core is
more severe.
After being injected into the reservoir, polymer molecules in polymer
solution can be adsorbed on the rock surface by electrostatic interaction,
hydrogen bonding interaction, or van der Waals force. Thus the pore
diameter in the formation is diminished (Ogunberu et al., 2004; Lee,
2010). In addition, the large-sized polymer molecule aggregates can be
mechanically captured outside the narrow pore throat, causing the pore
throat blockage. When the narrow pore throats are blocked by me­
chanical capture, the flowing direction of the polymer solution at the
entrance of these pores is forced to change and then polymer molecules
can be much more retained by hydraulic capture. For the area with
lower permeability, the pore throats are narrower and polymer mole­
cules are captured more easily, so the blockage is more severe (Al-Hajri
et al., 2018). According to the aforementioned research on interaction
between inorganic particles and polymer, it can be deduced that inor­
ganic particles can interact with polymer molecules captured outside the
throats, leading to aggravated polymer capture and more severe
blockage (Fig. 10).
F. Wang et al.
3.3. Formation mechanism of blockage
Based on the analysis about the blockage sources, the consecutive
formation mechanism of the blockage during polymer flooding can be
concluded. After polymer solution is injected from the injection well,
there are “fish eye” scale caused by imperfectly dissolved polymer
powder and inorganic salt crystal/polymer scale caused by water in­
compatibility and polymer enwrapping. The produced scale is deposited
in the near-injection well zone or migrates to the deeper zones. During
the migration, the exfoliated fine particles can be blended in with the
migrated scale, forming the composite scale with fine particles. Mean­
while, some exfoliated fine particles can directly interact with polymer
molecules to form the fine particle/polymer flocculent scale. These scale
with fine particles can form bridge blockage in the layer or migrate to
the production well direction. In the oil-bearing area near the produc­
tion well, the asphaltene from crude oil can be adsorbed and precipi­
tated on the scale surface to form an oil film, leading to the oil-wrapped
scale. The oil-wrapped scale is not easy to swell in the fluid and be
carried by the fluid. So it is firmly trapped in the layer and causes bridge
blockage in the near-production well zone. In addition, polymer mole­
cules in the injected polymer solution can be adsorbed on the rock
surface and captured outside the narrow pore throat, diminishing the
pore diameter and blocking the narrow throat. Especially, the inorganic
particles formed by water incompatibility or fine particle exfoliation can
further aggravate the polymer capture and then cause more severe
blockage. Under the synergistic effect of scale formation and polymer
retention, with the oil layer adsorbed and captured by polymer, various
scale is deposited and bridge-blocked in the various zones of oil layer,
causing the blockage during the polymer flooding process.
3.4. Location distribution of blockage
Based on the analysis of blockage formation mechanism during
polymer flooding, the location distribution of blockage was further
studied by physical simulation displacement experiment using the long
sand pack tube. The simulated displacement process included three
stages: water flooding stage, polymer flooding stage, and subsequent
water flooding stage. The pressure changing curves of various pressure
measurement points and pressure drop changing curves of various zones
are shown in Fig. 11. According to the Darcy’s law, for the zone with
higher pressure drop value, the permeability of this zone is lower and the
seepage resistance is higher. So it can be indicated that the blockage of
the zone is more severe. Therefore, the location distribution of blockage
in the oil layer and its changes can be obtained by analyzing the pressure
drop changing curves of various zones in various displacement stages.
In the water flooding stage, the pressure drop in zone I is biggest and
fluctuant, which suggests the inorganic scale caused by water in­
compatibility is mainly concentrated in the near-injection well zone. In
the polymer flooding stage, the pressure drop in zone I increases and
fluctuates significantly at first, indicating that a great deal of “fish eye”
scale and inorganic salt crystal/polymer scale is generated in the near-
injection well zone as well as the polymer retention. With the increase
of injection volume of the polymer solution, the pressure drop in zone I
gradually turns down and the pressure drop values in zones II, III, and Ⅳ
gradually increase and fluctuate. The pressure drop in zone II rises to be
the biggest one while pressure drop values in other zones are not much
Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of polymer adsorption and polymer capture.
8
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 194 (2020) 107503
different. Because of the continual injection, the initial scale in near-
injection well zone is gradually migrated to the deep zones. In zone II,
there occurs massive deposition and bridge blockage of the migrated
scale. Meanwhile, the exfoliated fine particles can be blended in with the
migrated scale to form the complex composite scale or directly interact
with polymer molecules to form the flocculent scale. Due to the severe
blockage caused by the migrated scale from zone I, the newly formed
scale with fine particles cannot be migrated forwards effectively.
Therefore, with the polymer retention, the blockage in zone II is the
most severe. In zone III, the blockage is caused by a small amount of
migrated scale from zone II, newly-generated fine particle/polymer
flocculent scale, and polymer retention. In zone Ⅳ, there exists migrated
scale from zone III, newly-generated fine particle/polymer flocculent
scale, and slight polymer retention. Because there is major residual oil in
this zone, the asphaltene from the crude oil can be further adsorbed on
the surface of the scale to form the oil-wrapped scale, which is more
firmly trapped in the layer and causes bridge blockage. In the subse­
quent water flooding stage, pressure drop values in all zones decrease
slowly and then keep stable with being fluctuant. In this stage, the
flexible blockage is gradually migrated and carried out from the pro­
duction well. In the oil layer, there retains the stoutly-blocked and large-
sized blockage. Overall, after multiple displacement stages, there exists
blockage in all zones of the oil layer, with the most severe blockage in
the middle zone near the injection well (Fig. 12).
4. Conclusions
(1) The component analysis indicates that the oilfield scale is
composed of polymer, inorganic substances, water, and crude oil.
Various components are interdependent and entangled with each
other in the scale.
(2) After the polymer solution is injected into the formation, there
are two kinds of scale occurring in the near-injection well zone,
including “fish eye” scale and inorganic salt crystal/polymer
scale. With the scale migration and fine particle exfoliation, there
forms the complex composite scale combined by migrated scale
and fine particles as well as the newly-generated fine particle/
polymer flocculent scale. When the scale encounters with crude
oil, the asphaltene from crude oil can be adsorbed and precipi­
tated on the scale surface, leading to the oil-wrapped composite
scale. Besides, the injected polymer can be adsorbed and captured
in the oil layer, causing the decrease of the layer permeability.
With decrease of oil layer permeability caused by polymer
retention, various scale is deposited and bridge-blocked in the oil
layer, causing the blockage during the polymer flooding process.
(3) After three displacement stages of water flooding, polymer
flooding, and subsequent water flooding, blockage is produced in
all zones of the oil layer. The blockage in the middle zone near the
injection well is most severe.
(4) The study will provide a theoretical basis for the subsequent
research on the blockage-removing fluid systems suitable for
polymer flooding reservoirs.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Fang Wang: Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis,
Investigation, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Visualization.
Hongbin Yang: Resources, Supervision, Project administration. Haiz­
huang Jiang: Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing. Xin Kang:
Writing - review & editing. Xiaoyu Hou: Investigation, Data curation,
F. Wang et al.
Fig. 11. Pressure changing curves and pressure drop changing curves in physical simulation displacement experiment.
Fig. 12. Schematic diagram of the blockage location distribution.
Writing - review & editing. Tongyu Wang: Methodology, Validation,
Formal analysis, Writing - review & editing. Bobo Zhou: Methodology,
Formal analysis. Bauyrzhan Sarsenbekuly: Validation, Writing - re­
view & editing. Wanli Kang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Super­
vision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.
Acknowledgements
The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation
of China, China (51774309), Shandong Provincial Natural Science
Foundation, China (ZR2017LEE001), Key Research and Development
Plan of Shandong Province, China (2019GGX102074).
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.petrol.2020.107503.
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