Interaction Between the Hydrophobically Modified Polyacrylamide and HPAM-Flooding Produced Liquid

Abstract

In order to utilize the produced liquid of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) flooding to enhance oil recovery, the interaction between hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide (HMPAM) and the produced liquid of HPAM flooding was investigated. The viscous characteristic of HMPAM in aqueous solution was investigated by Ubbelohde viscometer. The results show the intrinsic viscosity of HMPAM in aqueous solution is higher than that of HPAM, indicating that HMPAM has better effect on increasing the viscosity of aqueous solution. The viscosity of the complex system consisted of HMPAM and the produced liquid from HPAM flooding is lower than that of the HMPAM system, but higher than that of the HMPAM/HPAM complex system in mineralized water. In order to investigate the major factor of the influence on the viscosity of the HMPAM/produced liquid complex system, the viscosities of HMPAM/HPAM (and hydrolyzed HPAM with different hydrolysis degree) in distilled water and in mineralized water were studied. The fluorescence spectrum and transmission electron microscopy measurements were carried out to investigate the interaction between HPMAM and produced liquid from a microscopic perspective. These results are useful for farther enhancing oil recovery after HPAM flooding.

Keywords:

• Apparent viscosity
• enhance oil recovery
• HPAM-flooding produced liquid
• hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM)
• hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide (HMPAM)

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Key Technologies R&D Programme (2008ZX05024-002-07) of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).