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Prediction of the evolution with time of the viscosity of acrylamide-acrylic acid copolymer solutions at high temperature

Conference · · Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Pet. Chem., Prepr.; (United States)
OSTI ID:7072910

One of the main procedures encountered when hydrosoluble polymers are used in chemical tertiary oil recovery processes is the prediction of the evolution of the thickening properties of their solutions. In the case of acrylic acid-acrylamide copolymers such a prediction requires good knowledge and understanding of the three following aspects: i) The hydrolysis of amide groups, which leads to enhancing of the polyelectrolyte character of the polymer. Different experimental works have dealt with the dependence of the kinetics of this reaction on pH, temperature, and initial polymer composition. More recently, a Monte-Carlo simulation method has been proposed to predict the variation of the degree of hydrolysis under different conditions. ii) The chemical degradation of the chain polymer, which can be due to various mechanisms according to the pureness of the samples, the method used for its synthesis, the nature of the ions present in the brine (oxidizing or reducing ions), the oxygen content of the brine and the temperature. iii) These two chemical processes lead to changes in the polymer charge and molecular weight, respectively. They are therefore expected strongly to modify the viscosity of the solution. Therefore, the relationship between viscosity and these two parameters must be known for the given conditions of application. In recent works, the authors have studied the kinetics of both hydrolysis and degradation of an acrylamide-acrylic acid copolymer containing 17% of acrylate groups. The purpose of this paper is to give some predictions of the evolution of thickening properties based upon semi-empirical viscosity laws.

Research Organization:
Institut Charles Sadron CRM-EAHP CNRS-ULP, 6, rue Boussingault 67083 Strasbourg-Cedex (FR)
OSTI ID:
7072910
Report Number(s):
CONF-880659-
Journal Information:
Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Pet. Chem., Prepr.; (United States), Journal Name: Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Pet. Chem., Prepr.; (United States) Vol. 33:1; ISSN ACPCA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English