Synthesis and characterization of a novel amphoteric terpolymer nanocomposite for enhanced oil recovery applications

Water-soluble polymers are highly applied to increase the recovery from oil reservoirs. The application of these polymers in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has some limitations regarding chemical, thermal and mechanical degradation at harsh reservoir condition. In this research, a novel stable terpolymer has been synthesised by preparing and grafting vinylbenzyl starch with poly (acrylamide/ acrylic acid/ acrylacyloxyethyltrimethyl ammonium chloride) in the presence of silica nanoparticles via free radical emulsion polymerization. Different stability investigations have been applied for the synthesised polymer including temperature, salinity and shear stability analyses at harsh conditions. The chemical structure of the novel polymer has been characterized using numerous methods including proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscope (TEM). Thermal properties have been evaluated by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The rheological properties have been studied at harsh reservoir conditions in terms of formation water salinity, temperature, and shear rate. The results have shown that the introduction of vinylbenzyl starch has significantly enhanced the thermal and chemical stability of the prepared polymer. Moreover, flooding experiments conducted on sandstone core have shown that the synthesised terpolymer can enhance the oil recovery up to 43% at polymer concentration of 3 g/L