Effect of AMPS(2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) content on the properties of polymer gels

The BST oilfield in the northwestern Taklamakan Desert is a fractured carbonate reservoir,but issues of water breakthrough are becoming increasingly severe with the development of water flooding.Unfortunately,the high-temperature and high-salt conditions(130°C,71695 mg/L)of the BST oilfield pose challenges for the development of plugging agents.In this study,the effects of 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid(AMPS)content on AM/AMPS copolymers and gels were studied through viscosity measurements,nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR),and cryo-scanning electron microscope(Cryo-SEM).Moreover,the AMPS stabilization mechanism of the polymers and gels was explained.Heatresistant and salt-tolerant gel systems were developed,and their gelation properties,thermal stability,injection capacity,and plugging ability were evaluated.Experimental results showed inconsistencies between the effects of AMPS content on the polymers and gels.For the polymers,the thermal stability increased with increased AMPS content in the polymer.However,excessive AMPS content resulted in poor gelation and low strength.The developed gel systems with S30 polymer(AMPS content is approximately 26%)exhibited excellent thermal stability,controllable gelation time,good injection capacity,and plugging ability.The field application results indicated that most production wells had a positive response,with reduced water-cut and increased daily oil production.

The effect of betaine surfactants on the association behavior of associating polymer

The interfacial properties and rheological behavior of surfactant/polymer complex systems were measured to investigate the association behavior of the associating polymer.Compared with the pure surfactant solution,there are two inflection points in the surface tension curve for the surfactant/polymer complex systems.The two inflection points are dependent on the surfactant type and polymer concentration.The effect of surfactant on the rheological behavior of polymer can be divided into two aspects.First,the addition of short-chain betaine surfactant is detrimental to the viscosity of polymer solution due to the electrostatic shielding effect.Second,long-chain betaine surfactant also reduces the viscosity of polymer solutions at low concentrations.However,when the concentration of the long-chain betaine surfactant is relatively high,the long-chain betaine surfactant could form worm-like micelles that promote the intermolecular association and thus increase the number of associating junctions,thereby resulting in the augmentation of viscosity.So it is necessary to apply the long-chain betaine surfactant to build the polymer/surfactant flooding system.The interaction model between surfactant and polymer is proposed,which is different from the traditional‘Three-Region Model’.