Hydrophobically associating acrylamide‐based copolymer for chemically enhanced oil recovery

Abstract

ABSTRACT A hydrophobically associating copolymer was prepared by free‐radical polymerization with acrylamide (AM), acrylic acid (AA), and N ‐allyloctadec‐9‐enamide (NAE) as monomers. The structure was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, 1 H‐NMR, 13 C‐NMR, and scanning electron microscopy. The rheological experiments indicated that the copolymer possessed superior properties compared with partially hydrolyzed polyacryamide. It was found that an AM/AA/NAE/Tween‐80 system could effectively decrease the interfacial tension and reduce the surfactant loss caused by stratum adsorption in polymer–surfactant flooding. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 2901–2911, 2013