Development of the CO2-Resistant Gel by Designing a Novel CO2-Responsive Polymer for Channel Control in Low-Permeability Reservoirs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new CO2-resistant gel that improves oil recovery in low-permeability reservoirs by preventing gas channeling during CO2 flooding.

Contribution

The study develops a novel CO2-responsive polymer (ADA) that forms a CO2-tolerant gel with superior stability and oil recovery performance.

Findings

The ADA gel retains over 99% of its initial viscosity after CO2 exposure, compared to 61% for conventional gels.

Core flooding experiments showed the ADA gel achieved up to 48.5% oil recovery in heterogeneous cores.

The CO2 resistance is due to a reinforced dual-crosslinked network formed by protonated amines and sulfonate groups.

Abstract

To address the problem of serious gas channeling during CO2 flooding in low-permeability reservoirs, which leads to poor oil recovery, this study developed a CO2-resistant gel using a novel CO2-responsive polymer (ADA) for gas channel control. The ADA polymer was synthesized via free-radical copolymerization of acrylamide (AM), dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide (DMAPMA), and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS), which introduced protonatable tertiary-amine groups and sulfonate moieties into the polymer backbone. Comprehensive characterizations confirmed the designed structure and adequate thermal stability of the ADA polymer. Rheological tests demonstrated that the ADA polymer solution exhibits significant CO2-triggered viscosity enhancement and excellent shear resistance. When crosslinked with phenolic resin, the resulting ADA gel showed outstanding CO2 tolerance under simulated reservoir conditions (110 °C, 10 MPa). After 600 s of CO2 exposure, the ADA gel retained over 99% of its initial viscosity, whereas a conventional HPAM-based industrial gel degraded to 61% of its original viscosity. The CO2-resistance mechanism involves protonation of tertiary amines to form quaternary ammonium salts, which electrostatically interact with sulfonate groups, creating a reinforced dual-crosslinked network that effectively protects the gel from H+ ion attack. Core flooding experiments confirmed its ability to enhance oil recovery by plugging high-permeability channels and diverting flow, achieving a final recovery of up to 48.5% in heterogeneous cores. This work provides a novel gel system for improving sweep efficiency and storage security during CO2 flooding in low-permeability reservoirs.

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