A New Method for the Quantitative Determination of the PHPA Polymer Content of Drilling Fluids and Other Aqueous Systems

Abstract

The need for a reliable, quant.it.at.ive analyt.ical method for the det.erminat.ion of the partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PHPA) polymer content. of drilling mud and ot.her wat.er-base fluids has been evident. for some t.ime. Previous methods have been based on eit.her t.he predpitat.ion of the anionic PHPA molecule or alkaline hydmlysis of t.he amide nit.rogen to form ammonia. All these met.hods are semiquant.it.at.ive det.erminations and are subject to a wide variety of int.erferences. Anot.her severe limit.ation, in t.he case of drilling fluids, is that a port.ion of the mud filtrat.e is used for analysis, The free polymer cont.ent of t.he filt.rat.e is rarely, if ever, the same as t.he unfilt.ered liquid phase of t.he whole mud.The method described in t.his paper is truly quantit.ative and is an absolute rather t.hen an empirical met hod. It is based on the t.ot.al oxidation of all organic material in a sample of t.he liquid phase of a wat.er-base dJ"illing fluid. The amide nit.rogen in t.he polymer molecule forms ammonium ions during the digest.ion and oxidat.ion process.These ammonium ions are then measured with an ammonia gas·sensing elect.rode afler conversion to ammonia by means of a simple pH adjustment.In addition, a sampling technique has been developed which enables the analyst t.o obt.ain a solidl'·free port.ion of the liquid phase of a drilling mud sample without. filtering the liquid t.hrough t.he mud filter cake. Thus, t.he met.hod assures measurement. of t.he available free polymer cont.ent of the fluid phase of t.he whole mud.The met.hod described is ideally suit.ed t.o t.he det.ermination of t.he PHPA cont.ent. of any aqueous solutions including t.hose encountered in wastewater treatment. and sludge dewat.ering operat.ions. The results of both laborat.ory and field evaluations of t.he method are present.ed.References and illust.rat.ions at. end of paper. 415

Preparation and application of silica-based perfusion packing of size exclusion chromatography for quantitation of polyacrylamide in enhanced oil recovery systems

“…3) Conversion of amide groups to amines, which are then determined by fluorescence spectrometry (Hendrickson and Neuman, 1984;Arryantoand Bark, 1991); 4) Amide hydrolysis with ammonia detection (Hawn and Talley, 1981;McCulley and Malachosky, 1991); 5) Colloid titration (Toei and Kohara, 1976;Tanaka and Sakamoto, 1993); 6) Turbidimetric method (Crummett and Hummel, 1963;Kuehne and Shaw, 1985); 7) Viscosity method (Lindstrom and Soremark, 1976;Jungreis, 1981); 8) Polarography method (Wentzell and SmithPalmer, 1987;Smith-Palmer, et al, 1988); 9) Flocculation-based method (Sojka and Lentz, 1996); 10) Radioactive labeling (Nabzar, et al, 1984;Nadler and Letey, 1989); and 11) Size exclusion chromatography (Beazley, 1985;Hunt, et al, 1988).…”

Spectrophotometric Determination of Polyacrylamide in Waters Containing Dissolved Organic Matter

“…(3) conversion of amide groups to amines, which are then determined by fluorescence spectrometry (7,8); (4) amide hydrolysis with ammonia detection (9,10); (5) colloid titration (11,12); (6) turbidimetric method (13,14); (7) viscosity method (15,16); (8) polarography method (17,18); (9) flocculation-based method (2); (10) radioactive labeling (19,20); and (11) size exclusion chromatography (21,22). Nevertheless, only a few of these methods are suitable for quantifying PAM in waters containing DOM.…”