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Polymers
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Application of Polymers in Enhanced Oil Recovery
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Application of Polymers in Enhanced Oil Recovery

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 878

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Daijun Du

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Interests: chemical EOR; functional polymer synthesis; EOR mechanisms; CO2-EOR
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Qingyuan Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Interests: enhanced oil recovery; polymer flooding; active nanofluid; heavy oil upgrading
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a critical strategy for optimizing the recovery of hydrocarbon from mature and unconventional reservoirs, ensuring sustainable energy production amid rising global demand. Polymers significantly enhance EOR performance by modulating fluid rheology, improving mobility ratios, and increasing macroscopic sweep efficiency through tailored viscoelastic and structural properties. This Special Issue focuses on the latest advancements in polymeric EOR technologies, covering

  • Synthetic polymers (e.g., hydrolyzed polyacrylamides, hydrophobically modified associative polymers) for high-salinity and high-temperature reservoir conditions;
  • Biopolymers (e.g., scleroglucan, schizophyllan, and modified xanthan gum) offering superior shear-thinning behavior and biodegradability;
  • Smart/functional polymers (e.g., thermo-responsive, pH-sensitive, and CO2-switchable polymers) for adaptive conformance control and targeted fluid diversion;
  • Hybrid systems integrating polymers with nanoparticles, surfactants, or alkalis for synergistic effects in chemical EOR (cEOR) and miscible/immiscible CO2-EOR.

We invite contributions that address polymer synthesis, mechanistic studies, field trials, computational modeling, and environmental considerations to advance the science and deployment of polymer-based EOR solutions.

Dr. Daijun Du
Dr. Qingyuan Chen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • polymer flooding
  • conformance control
  • rheology
  • chemical EOR
  • CO2-EOR

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 2825 KB  
Article
Experimental Investigation of a Waste-Derived Biopolymer for Enhanced Oil Recovery Under Harsh Conditions: Extraction and Performance Evaluation
by Ammar G. Ali, Faisal S. Altawati, Osama A. Elmahdy, Fahd M. Alqahtani, Mohammed T. Althehibey and Taha M. Moawad
Polymers 2025, 17(21), 2896; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17212896 - 30 Oct 2025
Viewed by 347
Abstract
Aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and its corresponding global direction, this study aimed to identify and evaluate an environmentally friendly and alternative material to replace conventional synthetic polymers for polymer flooding. Extracting biopolymer solution, characterizing rheological properties, and conducting core-flooding experiments (seawater [...] Read more.
Aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and its corresponding global direction, this study aimed to identify and evaluate an environmentally friendly and alternative material to replace conventional synthetic polymers for polymer flooding. Extracting biopolymer solution, characterizing rheological properties, and conducting core-flooding experiments (seawater flood (SWF), secondary polymer flood (PF), and tertiary polymer flood) were experimentally investigated under simulated reservoir conditions (75 °C, 165,000 ppm TDS brine, and 2000 psi pore pressure). Biopolymer solutions were successfully generated from powdered pomegranate peels, and rheological characterizations of solutions with different shear rates, temperatures, and pomegranate-peel concentrations were investigated. Results revealed that significant shear-thinning behavior was pronounced in the biopolymer solutions, where 7% solution was selected for core-flooding tests. 7% solution exhibited 14.4 cP apparent viscosity at 13.2 s−1 shear rate and 75 °C, indicating good thermal stability. Interfacial tension (IFT) results demonstrated high IFTs compared to the required IFT to reduce capillary forces, indicating that improved mobility control through viscosity enhancement serves as dominant EOR mechanism. The results indicated that PF yielded a higher ultimate oil recovery (62.2%) compared to SWF (47.6%) and tertiary polymer flood (58.0%). Results demonstrated that significant pressure fluctuations during polymer injection were observed, highlighting injectivity challenges. From all results, pomegranate peels would be potentially used to generate a biopolymer solution and replace environmentally hazardous materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Polymers in Enhanced Oil Recovery)
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18 pages, 4624 KB  
Article
Synthesis of Linear Modified Siloxane-Based Thickeners and Study of Their Phase Behavior and Thickening Mechanism in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide
by Pengfei Chen, Ying Xiong, Daijun Du, Rui Jiang and Jintao Li
Polymers 2025, 17(19), 2640; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17192640 - 30 Sep 2025
Viewed by 360
Abstract
To address critical limitations of ultra-low viscosity supercritical CO2 fracturing fluids, including excessive fluid loss and inadequate proppant transport capacity, a series of thickeners designed to significantly enhance CO2 viscosity were synthesized. Initially, FT-IR and 1H NMR characterization confirmed successful [...] Read more.
To address critical limitations of ultra-low viscosity supercritical CO2 fracturing fluids, including excessive fluid loss and inadequate proppant transport capacity, a series of thickeners designed to significantly enhance CO2 viscosity were synthesized. Initially, FT-IR and 1H NMR characterization confirmed successful chemical reactions and incorporation of both solvation-enhancing and -thickening functional groups. Subsequently, dissolution and thickening performance were evaluated using a custom-designed high-pressure vessel featuring visual observation capability, in-line viscosity monitoring, and high-temperature operation. All thickener systems exhibited excellent solubility, with 5 wt% loading elevating CO2 viscosity to 3.68 mPa·s. Ultimately, molecular simulations performed in Materials Studio elucidated the mechanistic basis, electrostatic potential (ESP) mapping, cohesive energy density analysis, intermolecular interaction energy, and radial distribution function comparisons. These computational approaches revealed dissolution and thickening mechanisms of polymeric thickeners in CO2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Polymers in Enhanced Oil Recovery)
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