Drag Reduction Performance and Mechanism of Hydrophobic Polymers in Fresh Water and Brine.

Hongzhong Tan,Chong Lin,Bo Yang,Wenlong Zhang,Yang Zhang,Jianfa Feng,Xiaojiang Yang,Jincheng Mao,Hao Zhang

doi:10.3390/polym12040955

Abstract

Three kinds of drag reducer were synthesized by inverse emulsion polymerization and named PHWAM-1, PHWAM-2, and PHWAM-3. Drag reduction (DR) tests showed that the three drag reducers have different DR characteristics in fresh water and various saline waters because of their different types of hydrophobic monomers. PHWAM-1, without hydrophobic monomers, performs better in fresh water, while PHWAM-2 and PHWAM-3, with hydrophobic monomers, perform better in brine. In addition, PHWAM-3, which has twin-tailed hydrophobic monomers, performs best in high-concentration brine. Measurements of micro-particle size and observations of spatial structure suggest that although the stronger hydrophobic polymer has no DR advantage over a linear polymer in fresh water, the molecular chains form a mutually associative supporting structure that improves the DR performance over that of a linear polymer in high-concentration brine.

Highlights

Drag reducers are widely used in the field of fluid transportation
Each drag reducer emulsion was soaked in anhydrous alcohol for 3 h; the high molecular weight polymer component in the emulsion was insoluble in the anhydrous ethanol solvent, while other components would be completely dissolved
These results indicate that a polymer drag reducer with a hydrophobic, long-chain

Summary

Introduction

Drag reducers are widely used in the field of fluid transportation. The friction resistance of fluids restricts the flow of fluids in pipelines, resulting in a reduced pipeline transportation capacity and increased energy consumption [1]. The main function of drag reducers is to reduce this resistance and improve the efficiency of fluid transportation. Drag reducers are generally high molecular weight polymers (105 ~107 g/mol). Water-soluble polyethylene oxide can reduce the resistance of water in pipelines by 75%, with an amount of only 25 mg/kg, and can increase the rate of the effluent by several times [2], which can be useful in extinguishing fires or other emergency applications. Firefighters in New York used water-soluble polymers to increase the flow of drainage systems in the early 20th century [3]

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