Polymer flooding is a well-established enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique for mobility control. However, several factors affect a successful application of polymer at field-scale including injectivity and retention. The latter two parameters can lead to poor polymer performance. This work investigates the flow behavior of an ATBS-based polymer in carbonate reservoirs under high-temperature and high-salinity (HTHS) conditions. Formation water sample as well as three carbonate cores were utilized in this work. Rheological studies and injectivity tests were conducted on the polymer at two different temperatures of 25 °C and 90 °C. Polymer dynamic retention tests were also conducted to assess polymer loss in porous media.

The results showed that the polymer has a good tolerance to salinity with a shear thickening behavior within the injected flow rates under temperature condition of 25 °C. The in-situ rheological studies also showed that this viscoelastic behavior disappears at higher temperatures of 90 °C. From injectivity tests, with increasing flow rate, resistance factor increases at 25 °C and decreases at 90 °C, which is related to polymer rheological behavior and in particular in-situ viscosity. In addition, resistance factor at 90 °C was lower than that of 25 °C due to the decrease in polymer retention as temperature increases. The paper provides more insight into the applicability of an ATBS-based polymer in reservoirs under harsh conditions. The study also helps in better understanding polymer flow behavior for designing successful field projects.

聚合物驱是一种公认​​的增强油采收率（EOR）技术，用于控制流动性。但是，有几个因素会影响聚合物在现场规模上的成功应用，包括注入性和保留性。后两个参数可能导致不良的聚合物性能。这项工作研究了在高温高盐度（HTHS）条件下，基于ATBS的聚合物在碳酸盐储层中的流动行为。这项工作利用了地层水样本以及三个碳酸盐岩心。在25°C和90°C的两个不同温度下对聚合物进行了流变学研究和注入性测试。还进行了聚合物动态保留测试以评估多孔介质中的聚合物损失。

结果表明，在注入流量为25°C的条件下，该聚合物对盐分具有良好的耐受性，并具有剪切增稠行为。原位流变学研究还表明，这种粘弹性行为在90°C的较高温度下消失。根据注入测试，随着流速的增加，电阻系数在25°C时会增加，而在90°C时会下降，这与聚合物的流变行为特别是原位粘度有关。此外，由于聚合物保留率随温度升高而降低，因此在90°C时的电阻系数低于25°C。本文提供了在恶劣条件下基于ATBS的聚合物在储层中的适用性的更多见解。该研究还有助于更好地理解聚合物流动行为，以设计成功的现场项目。