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Investigation on the Effects of the Hydrophobic Comonomer Content in Acrylamide Copolymers on the Wettability Alteration of Reservoir Rock

Mirzaei, Hadi | 2025

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 58348 (06)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Ramazani Saadatabadi, Ahamd
  7. Abstract:
  8. Polymer flooding is a widely applied technique for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), yet conventional polymers such as hydrolyzed polyacrylamide and xanthan gum are limited by biodegradation, salinity sensitivity, and thermal instability. Incorporating hydrophobic groups into the polymer backbone is a promising strategy to overcome these challenges. In this study, acrylamide–styrene–maleic anhydride terpolymers with different molar ratios (98/1/1, 90/2/8, 90/5/5 and 90/8/2) were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, HNMR, and TGA. The rheological behavior of the polymer solutions was examined using a rotational viscometer, and their influence on carbonate rock wettability was evaluated through micromodel flooding experiments, contact angle measurements, and adsorption tests. Gel permeation chromatography revealed that the A98S1M1 sample had a weight-average molecular weight of 267 kDa and a number-average molecular weight of 1.95 MDa, with a polydispersity index of 7.31. The highest oil recovery (47.6%) was achieved with the A90S2M8 sample. Contact angle results indicated that increasing styrene content rendered the rock surface more hydrophobic, whereas maleic anhydride played a key role in modifying interfacial properties, with the A90S2M8 sample yielding a surface tension of 6.40 mN/m. Overall, the findings demonstrate that introducing hydrophobic groups into acrylamide-based polymers enhances thermal and saline stability, promotes wettability alteration, and improves recovery efficiency under harsh reservoir conditions
  9. Keywords:
  10. Styrene ; Maleic Anhydride ; Wettability ; Enhanced Oil Recovery ; Polyacrylamide ; Inverse Polymerization

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