Stability
In dilute aqueous solution, such as is commonly used for Enhanced Oil Recovery applications, polyacrylamide polymers are susceptible to chemical, thermal, and mechanical degradation. Chemical degradation occurs when the labile amine moiety hydrolyzes at elevated temperature or pH, resulting in the evolution of ammonia and a remaining carboxyl group. Thus, the degree of anionicity of the molecule increases. Thermal degradation of the vinyl backbone can occur through several possible radical mechanisms, including the autooxidation of small amounts of iron and reactions between oxygen and residual impurities from polymerization at elevated temperature. Mechanical degradation can also be an issue at the high shear rates experienced in the near-wellbore region. However, cross-linked variants of polyacrylamide have shown greater resistance to all of these methods of degradation, and have proved much more stable.
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