Design and synthesis of cationic copolymer synergized with metal nanoparticles as polymeric hybrid nanocomposite for carbonate reservoir applications

摘要

Synthetic water-soluble polymers, such as acrylamide-based compounds, i.e., partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), are well known for polymer flooding in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and drilling fluid supplement for well-drilling operations. However, these types of polymers have low thermal stability and mechanical resistance. Therefore, it was decided to synthesize a polymer according to the petroleum reservoir harsh conditions by selecting appropriate monomers that are stable to salinity, temperature, shear stress and to improve their properties with nanoparticles. Hence, simultaneous usage of polymer and nanomaterials in the resulting nanocomposite is expected to overcome their remaining deficiencies. In this research, a copolymer (NVP-co-APTAC) was prepared from comprising of 3-acrylamidopropyl trimethylammonium chloride (APTAC) as cationic monomer and N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) monomer with constant molar ratio (0.3:0.7) through aqueous media, by free-radical polymerization method. Nano-alumina particles (Al2O3), with different values at 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 wt% relative to the total weight of monomers were added to produce the nanocomposite (NVP-co-APTAC/Al2O3). The chemical structure of synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by conventional techniques. The results have shown that the nanocomposite containing 0.2 wt% of nano-alumina with respect to total monomers weight has high rheological behavior.