Organophilic clay gellants
AssigneeVenture Innovations, Inc.
InventorRoy F. House
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention provides methods of preparing organophilic clays having enhanced dispersibility in organic liquids, the organophilic clay containing gellants, and methods of increasing the viscosity of organic liquids utilizing these gellants.
Claims21
An organoclay slurry comprising from about 20% to about 50% by weight of an organophilic clay, from about 50% to about 80% by weight of an aqueous solution of a low molecular weight polar organic compound wherein the concentration of said compound is from about 2.5% to about 97.5% by weight of said solution, and from 0% to about 40%, based on the weight of said organophilic clay, of an alkali metal base selected from the group consisting of sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, ammonium carbonate, and mixtures thereof, wherein said solution contains:
- (a) from about 20% to about 65% methanol when said compound is methanol;
- (b) from about 10% to about 65% ethanol when said compound is ethanol;
- (c) from about 2.5% to about 50% of an alcohol containing three carbon atoms when said compound is said alcohol;
- (d) from about 2.5% to about 35% of an alcohol containing four carbon atoms when said compound is said alcohol;
- and
- (e) from about 2.5% to about 20% of an alcohol containing five carbon atoms when said compound is said alcohol.
The method of producing an organophilic clay slurry which comprises extruding a mixture containing a smectite clay, from about 75 to about 120 millequivalents per 100 grams of 100% active clay of a quaternary ammonium salt comprising a quaternary ammonium cation and an anion having the structural formula:
- ##STR3## where A is an anion selected from the group consisting of Cl, Br, I, NO.sub.2, OH, NO.sub.3, CH.sub.3 SO.sub.4, and mixtures thereof, and R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, and R.sub.4 are independently selected from the group consisting of C.sub.a H.sub.2a+1-x B.sub.x, C.sub.b H.sub.2b-1-x B.sub.x, C.sub.6 H.sub.5-x B.sub.x CH.sub.2, and mixtures thereof, where 1.ltoreq.a.ltoreq.30, 3.ltoreq.b.ltoreq.30, 0.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.2, and B is a radical selected from the group consisting of OH, Cl, Br, C.sub.6 H.sub.5 and mixtures thereof, wherein at least one R contains at least 12 carbon atoms, and wherein said quaternary ammonium cation contains at least 20 carbon atoms, from about 15% to about 100%, based on the weight of 100% active clay, of water, from about 5% to about 50%, based on the weight of 100% active clay, of a first alcohol containing from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, and from about 0% to about 20%, based on the weight of the organophilic clay of an alkali metal carbonate, and thereafter shearing said extruded organophilic clay in an aqueous solution of a low molecular weight polar organic compound wherein the concentration of said compound is from about 2.5% to about 97.5% by weight of said solution, wherein said slurry contains from about 20% to about 40% organophilic clay, wherein the ratio of water to said first alcohol plus said polar organic compound in said slurry is in the range from about 97.5/2.5 to about 5/95, and wherein said polar organic compound is selected from the group consisting of alcohols containing from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, ketones containing from 3 to 6 carbon atoms, nitroalkanes containing from 1 to 3 carbon atoms, alkylene carbonates containing from 3 to 4 carbon atoms, amides containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, esters containing from 2 to 4 carbon atoms, and mixtures thereof, wherein said solutions contains:
- (a) from about 20% to about 65% methanol when said compound is methanol;
- (b) from about 10% to about 65% ethanol when said compound is ethanol;
- (c) from about 2.5% to about 50% of an alcohol containing three carbon atoms when said compound is said alcohol;
- (d) from about 2.5% to about 35% of an alcohol containing four carbon atoms when said compound is said alcohol;
- and
- (e) from about 2.5% to about 20% of an alcohol containing five carbon atoms when said compound is said alcohol.
The method of activating an organophilic clay for enhanced dispersibility in an oleaginous liquid which comprises mixing said organophilic clay with an aqueous solution of a low molecular weight polar organic compound, wherein the concentration of said compound is from about 2.5% to about 97.5% by weight of said solutions, to produce a pumpable slurry containing from about 20% to about 50% of said organophilic clay, wherein said solutions contains:
- (a) from about 20% to about 65% methanol when said compound is methanol;
- (b) from about 10% to about 65% ethanol when said compound is ethanol;
- (c) from about 2.5% to about 50% of an alcohol containing three carbon atoms when said compound is said alcohol;
- (d) from about 2.5% to about 35% of an alcohol containing four carbon atoms when said compound is said alcohol;
- and
- (e) from about 2.5% to about 20% of an alcohol containing five carbon atoms when said compound is said alcohol.
The method of producing an organophilic clay gellant which comprises extruding a mixture containing a smectite clay, from about 75 to about 120 milliequivalents per 100 grams of 100% active clay of a quaternary compound selected from the group consisting of quaternary ammonium salts, quaternary phosphonium salts, and mixtures thereof, from about 15% to about 100%, based on the weight of 100% active clay, of water, from about 5% to about 50%, based on the weight of 100% active clay, of an alcohol containing from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, and from 0% to about 20%, based on the weight of said organophilic clay, of an alkali metal base selected from the group consisting of sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, and mixtures thereof, and thereafter grinding the organophilic clay without drying the water or alcohol therefrom.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.