Synthesis and characterization of a series of modified polyacrylamide

• Published in: Colloid and polymer science Vol. 287; no. 2; pp. 237 - 241
• Main Authors: Zhao, Yuzhu, Zhou, Jizhu, Xu, Xiaohui, Liu, Wenbin, Zhang, Jingying, Fan, Minghong, Wang, Jinben
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag 01.02.2009; Springer-Verlag; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agglomeration; Applied sciences; Aqueous solutions; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical flooding; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Complex Fluids and Microfluidics; Emulsification; Enhanced oil recovery; Exact sciences and technology; Food Science; Hydrophobic association; Modified polyacrylamide; Monomers; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Organic polymers; Physical Chemistry; Physicochemistry of polymers; Polyacrylamides; Polymer Sciences; Polymers with particular properties; Preparation, kinetics, thermodynamics, mechanism and catalysts; Scanning electron microscopy; Short Communication; Soft and Granular Matter; Synthesis; viscosity; Viscosity; Modified polyacrylamide; Hydrophobic association; Chemical flooding; Water oil emulsion; Graft copolymer; Emulsifying power; Hydrophobic interaction; Acrylamide derivative copolymer; Sodium acrylate copolymer; Ethylene oxide copolymer; Experimental study; Lateral group; Macromer; Ethylene oxide polymer; Preparation; Acrylamide copolymer; Concentration effect; Molecular association; Hydrophobic group; Aqueous solution; Radical copolymerization; Apparent viscosity
• ISSN: 0303-402X; 1435-1536
• DOI: 10.1007/s00396-008-1975-y

We present the synthesis and the characterization of a new class of modified polyacrylamides (MPAM) with the unusual trait of strong emulsification ability, viscosity enhancement capacity, and significant salt tolerance. Besides, the synthesized polymers have the peculiar aggregation behaviors in aqueous solution. The synthesis was carried out by polymerizing the monomers such as acrylamide (AM), acrylic acid (AA), unsaturated amphiphilic functional moieties, and high steric hindrance functional units. Their aggregation behaviors were investigated by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The emulsion, formed by 10 ml of MPAM (with the polymer concentration of 1,000 mg/L) and the 10 ml of crude oil, was very stable, which indicates that the synthesized polymers have unique emulsification properties. The strong hydrophobic interaction between molecules and the three-dimensional network formed in aqueous solution were exhibited by the experimental results of steady fluorescence and SEM experiments. It could be concluded that the performance of polymers for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) can be remarkably enhanced by introducing functional monomers to polymer backbone, which allows the new class of modified polymers to have more promising application in enhanced oil recovery.