Synthesis, Characterization, and Property Evaluation of a Hydrophobically Modified Polyacrylamide as Enhanced Oil Recovery Chemical

A novel hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide p(AM/NaA/OP-10-AC/BOAM) was successfully synthesized via an aqueous micellar copolymerization method from acrylamide (AM), sodium acrylate (NaA), octylphenol polyoxyethylene acrylate (OP-10-AC), and small amounts of N-benzyl-N-octylacrylamide (BOAM), with the aim of investigating the copolymer's rheological behaviors under various conditions such as polymer concentration, shearing, temperature, and salinity. The copolymer was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscope. Scanning electron micrographs show large aggregates in solution formed by the association from the hydrophobic groups of the copolymer. Compared with partially hydrolyzed polyacryamide (HPAM), the copolymer shows a much higher thickening capability and a much greater ability to resist shearing, heat, and salts. This good property of the copolymer is attributed to its three-dimensional dimensional network structure. According to the core flooding test, it can be obtained that oil recovery is enhanced about 4.3% by the copolymer flooding contrasted to the HPAM flooding in mid-low permeability cores under conditions of 1500 mg/L of polymers and 45 degrees C. All the results prove that the copolymer has the capability of increasing oil recovery by improving waterflood sweep efficiency in high-salinity reservoirs.