Preparation of poly(acrylamide‐co‐acrylic acid)/silica nanocomposite microspheres and their performance as a plugging material for deep profile control

Abstract

In this work, poly(acrylamide‐co‐acrylic acid)/silica [poly(AM‐co‐AA)/SiO2] microspheres were prepared by inverse phase suspension polymerization in the presence of γ‐3‐(trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate (or 3‐methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane) modified SiO2. The effects of SiO2 nanoparticles on tuning morphology and properties of the nanocomposite microspheres were studied. Plugging ability and oil displacement performance were also systematically investigated by single‐ and double‐tube sand pack models. The results showed that SiO2 nanoparticles can effectively adjust surface smoothness, swelling behavior, and thermal stability of the nanocomposite microspheres. Compared with pure copolymer microspheres, these nanocomposite microspheres also displayed better salt tolerance and shear resistance. Such multifunctional nanocomposite microspheres can provide effective plugging in the high‐permeability channels and can also achieve deep profile control. The highest plugging rate can be 86.11% and the oil recovery for low‐permeability tube was enhanced by 19.69%. This research will provide a candidate material for the further enhanced oil recovery (EOR) research and supply the theoretical support for profile control system in field application. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45502.

Polyaniline Coated Core-Shell Typed Stimuli-Responsive Microspheres and Their Electrorheology

“…Silica (SiO 2 ) particles are used widely in the fields of drug delivery [ 68 , 69 ], food industry [ 70 , 71 ], catalytic [ 72 ], sensor [ 73 ], biochemical [ 74 ], etc. [ 75 , 76 ] because of their special porous structure, biocompatibility, colloidal stability, low cost, and easy preparation. In addition, owing to their excellent reinforcing properties and regular spherical morphology, SiO 2 particles are considered very promising partners for the preparation of polymer-coated composite materials.…”

Extracting Salinity Gradient Energy via Antifouling Poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide) Hydrogels in Natural Water

“…Moreover, when 3 wt % colloidal silica, a model of suspended solids in natural water was directly injected into the P­(AA- co -AAm) hydrogel to initiate the inorganic particles fouling before SGE harvest cycles, and the RE and EE are shown in Figure D. After the injection of colloidal silica, both RE and EE are hardly reduced, and instead these two properties slightly increased compared with that without inorganic particle fouling, which may be induced by the reinforcement of inorganic particles . The antifouling against biological molecules and robustness against inorganic particles will both beneath the durability of hydrogels in their real service environment.…”

Nanoscale Polyacrylamide Copolymer/Silica Hydrogel Microspheres with High Compressive Strength and Satisfactory Dispersion Stability for Efficient Profile Control and Plugging

“…Because VSNPs can increase the cross-linking degree of the microspheres and enhance stability of the molecular networks, the VSNPs may prevent from generating small molecules and help dissipate thermal energy. 36,37 3.4. Swelling and Rheological Behaviors of P(AM-co-AMPS)/SiO 2 Hydrogel Microspheres.…”

“…As shown in Table S2, with increasing the VSNP contents, the mass loss ratio of the microspheres at the same temperature decreases, and the temperature at the same mass loss ratio of the microspheres increases, implying that the presence of VSNPs improves the thermal stability of the nanoscale microspheres. Because VSNPs can increase the cross-linking degree of the microspheres and enhance stability of the molecular networks, the VSNPs may prevent from generating small molecules and help dissipate thermal energy. , …”