The apparent viscosity of oil/water mixtures can be surprisingly high, even for a light oil. The data from Figure 2 are from a mixture of a light waxy oil and water. These emulsions can exhibit a viscosity of hundreds of cp. When the water percentage becomes very high (reach an “inversion point”) the external phase becomes water-like and the viscosity falls dramatically to only a few cp.

Figure 2. Light oil (viscosity < 10 cp) and water mixtures show high viscosity

By selecting the correct treatment chemical, the effective emulsion viscosity is reduced from hundreds of cp to less than 5 cp. ChemEOR has developed some particularly high performance product for this. The Flowpro E can produce this result with dosages of 50 -250 ppm in the liquid mixture. See Figure 3 for example laboratory data.

Figure 3. Flowpro E - additive reduces oil/water emulsion viscosity dramatically.

• Injection is often at very high pressures
• Power requirement increases for water injection systems with long lines
• Waterflood projects are typically 100,000’s bwpd, and often in excess of 1,000,000 bwpd

The Flowpro W series is a unique surfactant chemistry. It has advantages over polymer products.

• The competing polymer friction reducers plug matrix pores and so cause formation damage. The surfactant based product causes no plugging
• The Flowpro W performance is even better in saline water. Polymer products are designed to be most effective in fresh water, and their performance is worse with an increase in salinity.