Phosphorus functional inversion agents for water-in-oil latices and methods of use
AssigneeEcolab USA Inc.
InventorsXiaojin Harry Li, Anand Parthasarathy
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Abstract
Water-in-oil lattices of water soluble or dispersible polymers and methods of using the same are presented. The lattices include phosphorus functional inversion agents that provide rapid and complete inversion of the lattices under conditions wherein the water source used to invert the latex is provided at high temperature, or includes a high level of total dissolved solids, or is both high temperature and high total dissolved solids.
Claims16
A water-in-oil latex comprising
- about 15 wt % to 70 wt % of a water soluble or dispersible polymer comprising 1 mol % to about 100 mol % acrylamide monomers;
- about 0.1 wt % to 20.0 wt % of an inversion surfactant characterized as having a hydrophilic/lipophilic balance of 10 or greater;
- and
- about 0.1 wt % to 20.0 wt % of a phosphorus functional inversion agent that is a hydrotrope.
A method of forming an invertible latex, the method comprising
- (a) forming a water-in-oil latex comprising
- about 15 wt % to 70 wt % of a water soluble or dispersible polymer;
- about 3 wt % to 50 wt % water;
- about 10 wt % to 40 wt % of a compound or blend thereof that is less than 0.1 wt % soluble in water at 25° C. and is substantially a liquid over the range of 20° C. to 90° C. and comprising linear, branched, or cyclic hydrocarbon moieties;
- and
- about 20 wt % or less of a latex surfactant characterized as having a hydrophilic/lipophilic balance of between 2 and 10;
- and
- (b) adding to the latex about 0.1 wt % to 20.0 wt % of an inversion surfactant characterized as having a hydrophilic/lipophilic balance of 10 or greater and about 0.1 wt % to 5.0 wt % of a phosphorus functional inversion agent to form an invertible latex, wherein the phosphorus functional inversion agent is a hydrotrope.
A method of recovering hydrocarbon compounds from a subterranean reservoir, the method comprising
- (a) forming a water-in-oil latex comprising:
- about 15 wt % to 70 wt % of a water soluble or dispersible polymer;
- about 3 wt % to 50 wt % water;
- about 10 wt % to 40 wt % of a compound or blend thereof that is less than 0.1 wt % soluble in water at 25° C. and is substantially a liquid over the range of 20° C. to 90° C. and comprising linear, branched, or cyclic hydrocarbon moieties;
- and
- about 20 wt % or less of a latex surfactant characterized as having a hydrophilic/lipophilic balance of between 2 and 10;
- (b) adding to the latex about 0.1 wt % to 20.0 wt % of an inversion surfactant characterized as having a hydrophilic/lipophilic balance of 10 or greater and about 0.1 wt % to 5.0 wt % of a phosphorus functional inversion agent to form an invertible latex, wherein the phosphorus functional inversion agent is a hydrotrope;
- (c) adding a water source to the invertible latex in a single addition to form a polymer flooding solution comprising about 100 ppm to 10,000 ppm of the water soluble or dispersible polymer,
- (d) injecting the polymer flooding solution into the subterranean reservoir, and
- (e) recovering the hydrocarbon compounds.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.