Developing an Instant Polymer Fluid Preparation Facility for Offshore Polymer Flooding Applications

Abstract Polymer flooding is gaining popularity in the offshore field to enhance oil recovery. Usually, the polymer fluid is prepared using maturation tanks. However, such tanks occupy large areas and are very heavy, which is not suitable for offshore applications as the platforms have limited space and load-bearing capacity. This paper presents a smaller, lighter, and instant polymer fluid preparation facility without maturation tanks oriented for offshore applications. The Instant Polymer Fluid Preparation (IPFP) facility consists of: (1) screw feeders, (2) a slicing unit, (3) a rotating packed bed (RPB), and (4) progressive cavity pumps (PCP). First, the polymer powder is transported by the screw feeder into a container mixed with water. Then, the polymer mixture enters the slicing unit for pre-mixing. Next, RPB is utilized to accelerate the maturation process by enhancing the inter-phase mass-transfer level between polymer and water. The polymer fluid is matured after such a process and can be pumped out through the PCP. First, the IPFP facility is tested in the laboratory. It can prepare polymer solutions with concentrations up to 8000 mg/L. The maximum flow rate is 600 cubic meters per day. And the viscosity retention ratio is above 90% compared to the solution prepared under laboratory conditions. Next, the IPFP facility is deployed in the Chinese offshore platform to conduct field tests. The facility functions well under field conditions and reduces the floor area and weight by 17 m2 and 53 tons, respectively, compared with the traditional maturation tank facility. Moreover, with the utilization of the RPB, the dissolving process is accelerated. The maturation time is reduced from forty to two minutes, which achieves real-time polymer solution preparation. Thus, the IPFP facility can be widely used in offshore platforms for polymer solution preparation. An IPFP facility is designed and built oriented for the offshore application. The IPFP facility replaces the traditional maturation tanks with the slicing unit and RPB, which reduces occupying area, weight, and preparation time. The proposed facility is a game-changer for the offshore polymer flooding application.