Synthesis and Characterization of Polyacrylamide Nanoemulsion: Effect of Polymerization Conditions on the Nanoemulsion Particle Size

Polyacryamide and its copolymers are used as drag reducing agent (DRA) in single aqueous phase and two-phase Oil/water flows in crude oil production and transportation pipelines.Conventional polyacryamide emulsions have generally large particle size and high viscosity that need specializeddelivering and injection equipments and considerable transportation costs. Conventional polyacryamide emulsions are also vulnerable to phase separation during storage andapplication [1,2]. The main focus of the present study is synthesis of high molecular weight PolyacrylamideNanoemulsion by inverse-emulsion polymerization. In orderto achieve the stable polyacrylamide nanoemulsion as twophase Oil/water drag reducer with high molecular weight,particle sizes smaller than 50 nm and therefore low viscosity the effect of parameters such as initiator type and concentration and emulsifying system on the particle size and its distribution, and nanoemulsion viscosity were investigated.