Potential of a β-Cyclodextrin/Adamantane Modified Copolymer in Enhancing Oil Recovery through Host–Guest Interactions

Abstract

In this work, a novel enhanced oil recovery (EOR) copolymer, which is expected to be an alternative to currently used polymers, was successfully synthesized through free radical micellar copolymerization of acrylamide, acrylic acid, 6-acrylamide-β-cyclodextrin (N-β-CD), and acrylamide-adamantane (N-ADA). The copolymer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The results demonstrated that because of the incorporation of ADA and β-CD groups, host–guest interactions occurred in the aqueous solution, which subsequently improved the salt tolerance, temperature resistance, shear resistance, and viscoelastic properties of the synthesized polymer. Regarding the EOR performance, it was observed that 8.58% incremental oil was produced using this polymer after water flooding was exhausted. The superior properties make this novel polymer promising in enhancing oil recovery, particularly for reservoirs which have discarded polymer flooding techniques because of harsh conditions.

Preparation of a Hydrophobic-Associating Polymer with Ultra-High Salt Resistance Using Synergistic Effect

“…This is because the sodium ions shielded the anions on the polymer side chains, which reduced the electrostatic repulsion between the anions, leading to the polymer main chain becoming curly. From a macro-perspective, the solution viscosity reduced in the initial phase [23]. Meanwhile, the hydrophobic association effect between the molecular chains was enhanced because of solution polarity enhancement.…”

Laboratory Study on the Oil Displacement Properties of Sugar Amine Sulfonate Surfactant

“…Ky-1500 (P) and SAS in combination with KY-1500 (SP) experiments were run at 0.5 mL/min displacement velocity. Experiments were divided into three stages [45] including water flooding (water content was more than 98%), system flooding (1PV) and subsequent water flooding (water content was more than 98%). The high viscosity of KY-1500 solution made it more difficult to inject, thus the injection pressure increased suddenly in the process of system flooding shown in Fig.…”

High‐viscoelastic graft modified chitosan hydrophobic association polymer for enhanced oil recovery

“…These polymers have more excellent ability to improve recovery than HPAM. [16][17][18] Mao et al prepared a twin-tail hydrophobically associating polymer DiPHAM by photoinitiation polymerization, which has good salt resistance and wide application prospect in high-salt reservoir. 19 Dastan et al prepared a hydrophobically modified terpolymer by N-hexadecyl AM reaction with AM and methacrylic acid.…”

“…Pu et al synthesized a series of quaternary polymers with high‐salt resistance and high‐shear resistance from AM, AA, 6‐AM‐β‐cyclodextrin, AM‐adamantane, and so forth. These polymers have more excellent ability to improve recovery than HPAM 16–18 . Mao et al prepared a twin‐tail hydrophobically associating polymer DiPHAM by photoinitiation polymerization, which has good salt resistance and wide application prospect in high‐salt reservoir 19 .…”