Characterization of acrylamide polymers for enhanced oil recovery

Abstract

Four different copolymers, of acrylamide and acrylic acid, acrylamide and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid, N,N-dimethylacrylamide and acrylic acid, and N,N-dimethylacrylamide and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid (sodium salts), were prepared. The copolymers were characterized by their intrinsic viscosities and monomer ratios and with IR, 1 H-NMR, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. No crystallinity was observed by differential thermal analysis, and this was well supported by XRD. All the polymers showed low decomposition temperatures. A number of decomposition temperatures were observed in differential thermogravimetry thermograms because of the elimination of gases such as CO 2 , SO 2 , CO, and NH 3 . The replacement of the acrylate group with a sulfonate group produced polymers that were more compatible with brine, whereas the replacement of acrylamide with a more hydrophobic group such as N,Ndimethylacrylamide produced a more shear-resistant polymer. A N,N-dimethylacrylamide-co-sodium-2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonate copolymer was better with respect to thermal stability when the polymer solution was aged at 120°C for a period of 1 month.

Aqueous Hybrids of Silica Nanoparticles and Hydrophobically Associating Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide Used for EOR in High-Temperature and High-Salinity Reservoirs

“…In such a hostile environment, the amide groups of the HPAM undergo extensive hydrolysis into carboxylic acid units at elevated temperature [9][10][11], and the hydrolyzed products precipitate when they come in contact with divalent cations such as Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ , commonly present in oil reservoir brines. In addition, the interaction of metal ions such as Na + and K + in the oilfield brines largely shields the mutual repulsion from the carboxylic groups along the HPAM skeleton, leading to the polymer coils to collapse and the hydrodynamic volume to decrease, ultimately lowering the solution viscosity [12,13].…”

Optimal Design for Reactivity Ratio Estimation: A Comparison of Techniques for AMPS/Acrylamide and AMPS/Acrylic Acid Copolymerizations

“…As with many other copolymer systems, such studies look at the final polymer (synthesis and characterization without considering the full conversion trajectory) and its performance properties, while they rarely investigate polymerization kinetics or reactivity ratio estimation. There has also been some work done in examining the effectiveness of AMPS/AAm copolymers in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) [2,[20][21][22]. The focus of these articles is intended to be the synthesis and testing of polymers for EOR use.…”

Modification of a nicotinic acid functionalized water‐soluble acrylamide sulfonate copolymer for chemically enhanced oil recovery

“…The best result was obtained when the temperature changed to 60 C (Table III, entry 7). Neither increasing nor decreasing the temperature improved the result (Table III, The effect of the pH on the sulfomethylation was also investigated (Table III, entries [10][11][12][13][14]. We found that the reaction was quite sensitive to the pH value, and the synthesized copolymer gave poor results at both low and high pH (Table III, entries 10-14 vs entry 8).…”

“…13 Some studies have indicated that functional polyacrylamide or a copolymer of acrylamide (AM) with a suitable organic monomer has better performances in temperature, salt, and shear resisting. 14,15 Recently, polymers with a nicotinic acid structure unit, which is primarily composed of a pyridine ring, have been reported as materials used in aviation, spaceflight, machinery, electronics, and so on and exhibit remarkable properties [16][17][18][19] because the pyridine ring possesses extraordinary rigidity and thermal and chemical stability. This considerably improves the salt and temperature tolerance of polymers.…”