Injectivity of Hydrophobically Associative Polyacrylamides for IOR: Impact of the Chemical Composition

Injectivity of associative polymers is a key parameter to control when considering their application in both<br>mobility control and well treatment operations. This work reports on the impact of chemical composition<br>of hydrophobically modified sulfonated polyacrylamides (HMSPAM) on their injectivity. The parameters<br>investigated are the molar fraction of hydrophobic comonomers and the size of the alkyl chains. A wide<br>range of HMSPAM and equivalent non-associative sulfonated polyacrylamides (SPAM) has been<br>synthesized using micellar radical polymerization. The copolymers have been extensively characterized<br>using NMR spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography. Then, solution properties of the polymers<br>have been studied in terms of rheology and size determination by dynamic light scattering, prior to<br>injecting them in membranes with calibrated capillary pores.