Secondary oil recovery
AssigneeUniversity of Surrey
InventorAdel Sharif
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process for injecting water into a subterranean petroleum-bearing formation for petroleum recovery, said method comprising: a) positioning a selective membrane between an aqueous solution and formation water having a higher solute concentration than the aqueous solution, such that water passes across the membrane by osmosis to dilute the formation water, b) injecting the diluted formation water into the petroleum-bearing formation, c) recovering formation water from the petroleum-bearing formation, and d) using at least a portion of the recovered formation water in step a).
Claims13
A process for injecting water into a subterranean petroleum-bearing formation for petroleum recovery, said method comprising:
- a) positioning a selective membrane between an aqueous solution and formation water having a higher solute concentration than the aqueous solution, such that water passes across the membrane by osmosis to dilute the formation water,
- b) injecting the diluted formation water into the petroleum-bearing formation,
- c) recovering formation water from the petroleum-bearing formation, and
- d) using at least a portion of the recovered formation water in step a).
An apparatus for injecting water into a subterranean petroleum-bearing formation for petroleum recovery, said apparatus comprising:
- a housing comprising a selective membrane for separating an aqueous solution from formation water having a higher solute concentration than the aqueous solution and configured to allow water from the aqueous solution to pass across the membrane by osmosis to dilute the formation water,
- means for injecting the diluted formation water into the petroleum-bearing formation,
- means for recovering formation water from the petroleum-bearing formation, and
- means for introducing the recovered formation water into the housing.
Use of barium chloride and/or calcium chlorides as additives for injection fluids for the recovery of petroleum from petroleum-bearing rock formations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.