Synthesis and evaluation of a composite crosslinked copolymer as a particulate fluid diversion agent

Abstract

AbstractTo meet the needs for polymer particulates for the flooding of oil fields, a composite crosslinked copolymer of hydrophilic monomers [acrylamide (AM) and acrylic acid (AA)] and a hydrophobic monomer [methyl methacrylate (MMA)] was synthesized. In this study, we first added a rare‐earth thermal stabilizer and inorganic montmorillonite (MMT) clay to the copolymer; this showed that the composite crosslinked copolymer exhibited good water‐swelling performance at 200°C, with gel static grade of 5, a toughness index of 1.1170, and a salinity limit of 250,000 mg/L. It also had better injection abilities. The AM/AA/MMA ratio was 4 : 1 : 0.03 w/w, the crosslinker additive content was 0.03 wt %, the thermal stabilizer additive content was 5 wt %, and the clay (MMT) additive content was 13 wt %. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 4429–4433, 2006