Polymer degradation in an electrical submersible pump

• Grant number: 24/00046-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Transport Phenomena
• Agreement: Equinor (former Statoil)
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Souza de Castro
• Grantee: Matheus Henrique Cavalheiro Garros
• Host Institution: Centro de Estudos de Energia e Petróleo (CEPETRO). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Company: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica (FEM)
• Associated research grant: 17/15736-3 - Engineering Research Centre in Reservoir and Production Management, AP.PCPE

Abstract

The polymer injection is widely used in the energy industry as an Enhance Oil Recovery (EOR) method. The polymer, which has a long molecule chain, is added to water and acts as a viscosifying agent. From the topside, the polymer and water mixture is injected at the bottomhole by a lower shear pumping system. When this mixture passes through the production system, especially by Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESP) and valves, it is submitted to high shear rates. This shear rate can break the long to small molecule chains, which reduces its EOR efficiency at reinjection. Moreover, the small molecule chains are more difficult to be removed from the water, increasing the separation costs. Therefore, the impact of the production systems on polymer degradation, especially caused by ESP, became interesting in analysis for the reuse capability and polymer separation. There is a lack of experimental studies on polymer degradation caused by ESP operations. The high shear rate within ESP can reduce the polymer chain length and, consequently, reduces its efficiency during reinjection and hampers the separation. In this context, this work arises from the need to analyze this degradation considering the water/polymer mixture viscosity. The proposed study is related to water/polymer mixture viscosity analysis regarding ESP operational parameters, in order to assist in the estimation of the mixture viscosity reduction due to the high shear rate. (AU)