Extraction and Evaluation of Flamboyant Mirim Gum as a Potential Viscosifying Agent for Enhanced Oil Recovery Fluids

Flamboyant mirim gum is a galactomannan, extracted from Caesalpinia pulcherrima seeds, a legume family schrub. The main objective of this work was to propose a factorial experimental design to optimize the galactomannan extraction process from its seeds and evaluate its potential as a viscosifying agent for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The galactomannan was characterized by FTIR, NMR, SEC, thermogravimetric analysis, elemental analysis, and rheology. Structural analyses confirmed the presence of the desired galactomannan content. The best yield obtained was 7.3% for initial seed mass and 24.6% for the endosperm. Rheological analysis showed that Flamboyant mirim gum is a promising alternative for EOR application in high salinity conditions. In addition, stability tests showed that glutaraldehyde can be considered a promising biocide for fluids containing galactomannan since it maintained the viscosity values of the systems for 42 days. Thus, the results confirmed the adequacy of the extraction procedure for obtaining galactomannan.