Polymers have found their ways of application in the oil industry over time. The versatile nature of polymers allows variation in designing and manufacturing a wide range of products to meet the different industry requirements. The ability to prepare polymer blends, incorporate various types of performance-enhancing additives, and prepare polymer matrix composites by introducing reinforcing agents (such as fibers, platy fillers, and particulate fillers) increase the adaptability of polymers far beyond the scope of individual polymer. Polymers and composites are commonly used as structural parts of infrastructure, drilling fluid ingredients and for enhanced oil recovery and the composites employed in these three application areas are vastly different and have undergone extensive research till date providing easy solutions to big problems in the industry. This paper presents vital polymers and their composites used in the industry under all the three categories of infrastructure, drilling fluids and enhanced oil recovery. Comparison of bio-polymeric substitutes (like lignin, starch and cellulose) to synthetic polymers, (like acrylates, hydrolyzed polyacrylamides and high performance polymers like fluoropolymers) are discussed and it also provides the future studies that can help in solving the real problems in in context of bio-polymers applications in oil and gas industry.

Applications of polymers in oil and gas industry

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ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.