Can cationic polyacrylamide flocculants be used to treat oily water?

Shu, G., Bu, K., Zhao, B. & Zheng, S. Evaluation of newly developed reverse demulsifiers and cationic polyacrylamide flocculants for efficient treatment of oily produced water. Colloids Surf. A 610, 125646 (2021). This work was supported by grants from the “Qihang Program” of the Southwest Petroleum University (2023QHZ001) awarded to C.Z.

What is partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PHPA)?

Partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PHPA), consisting of neutral acrylamide and anionic acrylate groups, is suitable for use in water with <25,000 mg/L TDS 12, 15.

What is hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM)?

Hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), a derivative resulting from the hydrolysis of PAM, demonstrates significant thickening capabilities in freshwater and at relatively lower temperatures (<75 °C) due to strong intra- and inter-chain electrostatic repulsion of carboxylate groups 14.

What is cationic polyacrylamide (C-PAM)?

Cationic polyacrylamide (C-PAM), copolymerized from acrylamide and substituted acrylate or acrylamide segments, offers an alternative to PHPA and exhibits high stability under high TDS conditions 28.

Does polyacrylamide cause membrane fouling during flowback water treatment?

Xiong, B. et al. Polyacrylamide in hydraulic fracturing fluid causes severe membrane fouling during flowback water treatment. J. Membr. Sci. 560, 125–131 (2018). Barati, R. & Liang, J.-T. A review of fracturing fluid systems used for hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 131, np –n/a (2014).

What are flocculants made of?

In most cases, flocculants are polymers composed of polyacrylamide (PAM) (Taylor et al. 2002). PAM is a polymer with high molecular weight, synthetized from acrylamide (AMD) and acrylic acid/acrylate (AA) (Scott et al. 1996; Caulfield et al. 2002).