Experimental study on viscosity and flow characteristics of a clay-intercalated polymer

Functional polymer flooding has been proven to be effective to enhance oil recovery, and the viscosity and flow characteristics are two main influencing factors on mobility control during functional polymer flooding. In this study, a clay-intercalated functional polymer whose molecular chains were connected to clay layers was synthesized using the in-situ intercalation polymerization method. The viscosity and flow characteristics of the intercalated polymer are investigated. Results of viscosity study showed that the clay-intercalated polymer exhibited better viscosifying performance and shear resistance compared with conventional polymer HPAM. As the concentration increases, the increase extent in viscosity of the intercalated polymer was greater, and the decrease extent in viscosity became smaller with the increase of shear rate. Results of core flooding experiments showed that the dynamic adsorption capacity of the intercalated polymer was higher than that of conventional polymer HPAM, resulting in higher retention of the intercalated polymer in porous media which led to higher resistance factor and residual resistance factor. In addition, the residual resistance factor was higher than the resistance factor during the intercalated polymer flooding in cores because of the layered clay intercalated in polymer chains. This study establishes a theoretical foundation for the application of the intercalated polymer in oilfields.