Particle settling in viscous non-Newtonian hydroxyethyl cellulose polymer solutions
✍ Scribed by R. S. Torrest
- Publisher
- American Institute of Chemical Engineers
- Year
- 1983
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 294 KB
- Volume
- 29
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0001-1541
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✦ Synopsis
Oil production along the Gulf Coast and elsewhere from formations that are essentially unconsolidated sand often requires some means of "sand control." That is, oil production must be free of sand, not merely to minimize solids handling problems, but to insure long and productive well performance. Gravel packing is often the preferred means of sand control. With this method, gravel, properly sized to prevent the production of formation sand, is injected into the well bore where it builds a filter between the formation sand and in most cases a central metal screen. The gravel is usually pumped into the well as a concentrated slurry using a viscous aqueous polymer solution. For example, Natrosol2SOHHR (Hercules, Inc.) a hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) polymer, is used by Shell Oil in its "AQUAPAC" (Lybarger et al., 1974). The success of the gravel pack depends on the "down-hole" properties of the polymer and suspension.