Abstract
In this paper the suitability of a graft polymer nanocomposite hydrogel system for enhanced oil recovery was examined using polyacrylamide graft starch/clay nanocomposite (a laboratory synthesized product) and chromium (III) acetate (crosslinker). X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry analysis, field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were carried out to reveal the laboratory synthesized product as a nanocomposite. The effects of various parameters like salt concentration, pH, temperature, polymer concentration and crosslinker concentration on the properties of the developed gel system were systematically evaluated. The thermal stability of the nanocomposite gel and the conventional gel system were also determined by thermogravimetric analysis. The graft polymer nanocomposite gel system exhibited acceptable gel strength, gelation time and gel stability compared with the conventional gel system. The nanocomposite gels prepared using a low crosslinker concentration showed higher gel strength and required longer gelation time than the conventional gel which is more desirable properties for the effective placement of gel during enhanced oil recovery operations. In addition, sand pack flooding experiments show that the graft polymer nanocomposite gels had better plugging capacity than the conventional gel systems under reservoir conditions. Hence, this gel system may be suitable in the water shutoff treatments required for enhanced oil recovery from oilfields.
Highlights
Water control is a key issue in most of hydrocarbon reservoirs (Liu et al 2010; Salehi et al 2014; Yadav and Mahto 2013a)
The results indicates that stronger the gel strength the larger the plugging capacity and the plugging capacity of PAAm-g-St/MMT hydrogel is much more than the conventional gel system
A novel gel system was developed by polyacrylamide graft starch/clay nanocomposite and chromium acetate
Summary
Water control is a key issue in most of hydrocarbon reservoirs (Liu et al 2010; Salehi et al 2014; Yadav and Mahto 2013a). Starch graft copolymers have become the focus for the preparation of inorganic–organic superabsorbent polymer gel because of their environmental acceptability and the crosslinked system (hydrogel) has high thermal stability, salt-resistant and long-term stability (Qiao and Zhu 2010) These hydrogels mainly do not possess adequate strength. They investigated the effects of montmorillonite on gelation behavior and the ionic strength on the swelling behavior of sulfonated polyacrylamide nanocomposite hydrogels in electrolyte solutions They found that nanocomposite gels had higher resistance against syneresis in electrolyte solutions compared with the conventional crosslinked hydrogels. Tongwa et al (2013) prepared a nanocomposite hydrogel using anionic partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide and laponite (nanoclay) with absence of any crosslinkers They reported that the clay concentration had a significant effect on the gel strength of the nanocomposite hydrogel. The water control performance of the graft polymer nanocomposite gel was thoroughly investigated by sand pack flooding at 90 °C for its suitability for enhanced oil recovery application
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