Synthesis of advanced Biopolymers through Chemo-selective Approach for Enhanced Oil Recovery from Non-producing Reservoirs

The production of crude oil must be increased to meet the growing global energy demand. As crude oil will remain a dominant energy source for the next ~30 years, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has become essential to maximize output from existing reservoirs, which is more economical than drilling new wells. Conventional recovery methods are inefficient, leaving behind nearly 50% of the original oil. Within EOR, biopolymers are emerging as sustainable alternatives due to their accessibility, cost-effectiveness, viscoelastic behaviour, and biodegradability. Natural polymers such as guar gum, xanthan gum, welan gum, scleroglucan, schizophyllan, and gum tragacanth are increasingly being investigated to replace synthetic polymers. However, microbial deterioration, shear-stress instability, and sensitivity to reservoir conditions (temperature, salinity, concentration, and functional groups) restrict their widespread application. This study introduces a novel chemically tailored biopolymer for EOR from non-producing reservoirs. While conventional polymers like polyacrylamide and xanthan gum typically achieve only 4-5% incremental recovery, our preliminary results demonstrate up to 10% additional recovery. The polymer is structurally modified through graft copolymerization, gel modification, esterification, crosslinking, and nanocomposite functionalization, ensuring higher viscosity, stability, and reservoir compatibility. The formulations will be developed using single or modified polymers along with oilfield adjuvants after validation under simulated reservoir conditions. Even a 1-2% incremental recovery can translate into millions of additional barrels of oil, highlighting the scalability and economic relevance of this approach. Recently, chemo-selectively modified and thermo-viscosifying polymers further support enhanced sweep efficiency under harsh conditions through viscosity increment, wettability alteration, and emulsification. These polymers have been successfully investigated in both laboratory experiments and field trials, highlighting their strong potential for large-scale EOR applications.

“Towards Sustainable Oil Recovery: Biopolymer Solutions for Energy Efficiency”