Synthesis and Evaluation of CO2 Thickeners Designed with Molecular Modeling

Robert Enick ; Erick Beckman ; J. Karl Johnson

关键词: ACETATES;    AMIDES;    BONDING;    BRINES;    CARBON DIOXIDE;    COPOLYMERS;    DESIGN;    EVALUATION;    FUNCTIONALS;    HYDROGEN;    POLYMERS;    SACCHAROSE;    SIMULATION;    STABILITY;    SURFACTANTS;    SYNTHESIS;    UREA;    VISCOSITY;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1009961
RP-ID  :  None
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1009961
Others  :  TRN: US201108%%418

学科分类：再生能源与代替技术

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The objective of this research was to use molecular modeling techniques, coupled with our prior experimental results, to design, synthesize and evaluate inexpensive, non-fluorous carbon dioxide thickening agents. The first type of thickener that was considered was associating polymers. Typically, these thickeners are copolymers that contain a highly CO{sub 2}-philic monomer, and a small concentration of a CO{sub 2}-phobic associating monomer. Yale University was solely responsible for the synthesis of a second type of thickener; small, hydrogen bonding compounds. These molecules have a core that contains one or more hydrogen-bonding groups, such as urea or amide groups. Non-fluorous, CO{sub 2}-philic functional groups were attached to the hydrogen bonding core of the compound to impart CO{sub 2} stability and macromolecular stability to the linear 'stack' of these compounds. The third type of compound initially considered for this investigation was CO{sub 2}-soluble surfactants. These surfactants contain conventional ionic head groups and composed of CO{sub 2}-philic oligomers (short polymers) or small compounds (sugar acetates) previously identified by our research team. Mobility reduction could occur as these surfactant solutions contacted reservoir brine and formed mobility control foams in-situ. The vast majority of the work conducted in this study was devoted to the copolymeric thickeners and the small hydrogen-bonding thickeners; these thickeners were intended to dissolve completely in CO{sub 2} and increase the fluid viscosity. A small but important amount of work was done establishing the groundwork for CO{sub 2}-soluble surfactants that reduced mobility by generating foams in-situ as the CO{sub 2}+surfactant solution mixed with in-situ brine.