Commercially available polymers provide effective mobility control in homogeneous reservoirs, but conformance problems in heterogeneous reservoirs can result in low sweep efficiencies and costly material losses. Additionally, poor stability at high temperatures (above 100 C) and high salinities (up to 150,000 ppm TDS, hardness up to 5000 ppm) results in limited applicability of commercial polymers under these conditions. The Verduzco laboratory is working to develop new polymeric materials for addressing both challenges. First, high-molecular weight linear polymers with a more thermally stable backbone and zwitterionic repeat units will be synthesize and tested for mobility control in high temperature/high salinity reservoirs. Second, highly branched polymers will be tested addressing reservoir conformance issues. Highly branched polymers may give a significant increase in viscosity at low concentrations and offer opportunities for a viscosity increase in response to environmental stimuli (e.g. temperature, pH, salinity).
In a related area, we are exploring polymer-coated nanoparticles as interfacially-active materials for modifying the oil-water interface and reducing the interfacial tension. The goal of this research project is to develop a tunable and robust set of nanoparticle based surfactants with lower adsorption compared with commercially available small molecule surfactants. We also aim to understand the solution properties of polymer-coated nanoparticle, especially at the oil-water interface, and how these are governed by the composition and structure of the grafted polymer layer.
Publications
ShamsiJazeyi, Miller, Wong, Tour, Verduzco. “Polymer-Coated Nanoparticles for Enhanced Oil Recovery,” J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 131, 40576.
Shamsijazeyi, Verduzco, and Hirasaki, “Reducing Adsorption of Anionic Surfactant for Enhanced Oil Recovery:
Part II. Applied Aspects,” in press Colloid. Surf. A .
Shamsijazeyi, Verduzco, and Hirasaki, “Reducing Adsorption of Anionic Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery: Part I. Competitive Adsorption Mechanism,” in press, Colloid. Surf. A