Investigation of Water-Flooding Activity Using Radiotracer Technology in Commercial Core-Flood Set Up

  • Noraishah Othman Plant Assessment Technology, Industrial Technology Division, 43000, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Malaysia
  • Ismail Mohd Saaid Centre of Research in Enhanced Oil Recovery, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia
  • Afaque Ahmed Centre of Research in Enhanced Oil Recovery, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia
  • Nazrul Hizam Yusof Plant Assessment Technology, Industrial Technology Division, 43000, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Malaysia
  • Roslan Yahya Plant Assessment Technology, Industrial Technology Division, 43000, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Malaysia
  • Mohd Amirul Syafiq Mohd Yunos Plant Assessment Technology, Industrial Technology Division, 43000, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Malaysia
  • Engku Mohd Fahmi Engku Chik Plant Assessment Technology, Industrial Technology Division, 43000, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Malaysia
  • Mohamad Rabaie Shari Plant Assessment Technology, Industrial Technology Division, 43000, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Malaysia
  • Hearie Hassan Plant Assessment Technology, Industrial Technology Division, 43000, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Malaysia
  • Airwan Affandi Mahmood Plant Assessment Technology, Industrial Technology Division, 43000, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Malaysia
Keywords: Radiotracer (99mTc), commercial core flood set up, water flooding, EOR, hydrodynamics

Abstract

An intervention of radiotracer technology in the EOR program has been initiated using commercial core-flood set up. A commercial type of Berea core is used throughout the experiment. 99mTc is chosen as a radioactive tracer for this experiment, which has a half-life of 6 hours and emits gamma rays’ energy of 0.104MeV. It is a liquid radiotracer with the activity of 10GBq (270mCi), eluted and prepared by Institute Cancer of Malaysia (IKN) before transporting it to the laboratory at Centre of Research in Enhanced Oil Recovery (COREOR), Universiti Teknologi Petronas. The experiment was conducted after 3.5 half-lives. Thus the activity has reduced to approximately (1.48GBq) 40mCi during injection inside the system. The results can be used to assist the reservoir engineer in determining the exact water-tracer breakthrough, localize the location of water-tracer concerning time, and determine the residence time distribution and mean residence time of the core flood where the hydrodynamics of the flow can be predicted. Moreover, the introduction of radiotracer inside the core flood rig can be translated as secondary oil recovery. The idea is to integrate radiotracer technology into the existing commercial core flood set up (FES350) to track the movement of fluid during water-flooding operation. Besides, it can be considered as the first interaction of radiotracer in the enhanced oil recovery application studies in Malaysia.

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Published
2020-06-30
How to Cite
Othman, N., Saaid, I. M., Ahmed, A., Yusof, N. H., Yahya, R., Mohd Yunos, M. A. S., Engku Chik, E. M. F., Shari, M. R., Hassan, H., & Mahmood, A. A. (2020). Investigation of Water-Flooding Activity Using Radiotracer Technology in Commercial Core-Flood Set Up. ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering, 20(1), 49-56. Retrieved from https://journal.ugm.ac.id/v3/AJChE/article/view/9108
Issue
Vol 20 No 1 (2020)
Section
Articles

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