Common Application of Polyacrylamide in Petroleum Industry

Polyacrylamide is a kind of polymer compound with high molecular weight and water solubility. It is widely used in petroleum industry, including precipitant, underground water injection, oil exploitation and oilfield wastewater treatment.

Precipitant: a large number of oily suspended solids, mud and impurities will be produced in the process of petroleum production and processing. PAM can be added to the sedimentation tank as a precipitant to help the suspended solids in the sewage agglomerate, which is easy to precipitate and remove. This method can effectively reduce water pollution and improve the efficiency of wastewater treatment.

Underground water injection: in the process of oil production, in order to increase the pressure in the reservoir and promote the flow of oil, it is necessary to inject water into the oil well. However, the mixing of water and oil and the excessive speed of water flow will affect the efficiency of water flooding. By adding polyacrylamide to water injection, the viscosity of water can be increased, the mixing of water and oil can be prevented, and the efficiency of water flooding can be improved.

Oil exploitation: polyacrylamide can be used as a component of water flooding agent and polymer flooding agent to improve the efficiency of oil recovery. Water flooding agent is a method to promote the flow of oil to the wellhead by injecting water into the reservoir. Polymer flooding agent is to change the relative permeability of water and oil in the reservoir by injecting a high molecular polymer into the reservoir, so as to promote the flow of oil to the wellhead.

Oilfield wastewater treatment: a large amount of wastewater will be produced in the process of oil exploitation, including harmful substances such as oil, sludge and impurities. In order to reduce the impact of these wastewater on the environment, polyacrylamide can be used as a treatment agent, which can agglomerate the oil, sludge and impurities in the wastewater and easily precipitate and remove them, so as to reduce the pollution to the environment.

In a word, the application of polyacrylamide in the petroleum industry is varied, and it can be used in precipitation, viscosity increasing, oil displacement and so on, so as to improve the efficiency of oil exploitation and reduce pollution.