Experimental Research on Further Enhanced Oil Recovery by Using High DC Electric field

In this paper, further method of enhanced oil recovery by DC electric field in water flooding reservoir is studied by experiments, and the mechanisms and influential factor induced by the DC electric field are analyzed. The results of the seepage flow behavior experiments indicate that, under the positive applied DC electric field, electrodynamic and electrohydraulic seepage flow velocity increase with the electric field strength. The results of the oil displacement experiments indicate that the core samples reveal strongly water-wet property, irreducible water saturation increase and residual oil saturation decrease, and oil recovery of water drive improved more than 5%. The influential factors of improving oil recovery effect of the water flooding reservoir under the applied DC electric field are discussed, and the results are that the primary influential factors include the different seepage flow behavior between polar phase and non-polar phase, the structure changing of surface double-layer, and electro-viscous effect, i.e.