Abstract
Dispersed particle gel (DPG) has been first successfully prepared using cross-linked gel systems through a simple high speed shearing method with the aid of a colloid mill at room temperature. The gel microstructure and particle size were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements. The results clearly show that the prepared DPG particles have highly uniformly spherical structures with an average size of 2.5 μm. A possible mechanism for the formation of DPG has been put forward and discussed in details. The high speed shearing method is considered to be the simple and rapid method for the preparation of DPG.
Highlights
Particle gels with controllable size such as preformed particle gels [1], branched preformed particle gels [2], pore-scale elastic microspheres [3], and microgels [4,5] have been developed very rapidly due to their wide applications in oilfield for in-depth profile control and water shut-off treatments
In order to study the microstructure and morphology of the prepared dispersed particle gel (DPG) particles, ESEM was conducted to investigate the microstructure of the bulk gel systems before shearing treatment [11]
There are many spherical protrusions distributed over its surface, which may contribute to the formation of DPG during milling
Summary
Particle gels with controllable size such as preformed particle gels [1], branched preformed particle gels [2], pore-scale elastic microspheres [3], and microgels [4,5] have been developed very rapidly due to their wide applications in oilfield for in-depth profile control and water shut-off treatments. The particle gels can be obtained through many different methods, including emulsion polymerization [6,7], precipitation polymerization [2], shearing cross-linking by peristaltic pump [4] or coaxial cylinder. Due to the smaller displacement and lower production efficiency, the other preparation methods, such as shearing cross-linking by peristaltic pump or coaxial cylinder viscometer, can’t meet the requirements of large-scale production, which limits the development of this technology application in the oilfield. More important is the fact that the colloid mill methods with high production efficiency can meet the requirements of large-scale production, which can break the bulk gel systems into particles with very small sizes by imposing high speed shearing forces upon the material in several minutes.
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