Comparison of an Emulsion- and Solution-Prepared Acrylamide/AMPS Copolymer for a Fluid Loss Agent in Drilling Fluid

[Image: see text] Acrylamide polymers were widely used as oilfield chemical treatment agents because of their wide viscosity range and versatile functions. However, with the increased formation complexity, their shortcomings such as poor solubility and low resistance to temperature, salt, and calcium were gradually exposed. In this paper, acrylamide (AM)/2-acrylamide-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) copolymers were synthesized by aqueous solution polymerization and inverse emulsion polymerization, respectively. The aqueous polymer (W-AM/AMPS) and the inverse emulsion polymer (E-AM/AMPS) were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and particle size analysis. The rheological properties, filtration properties, and sodium ion (Na(+)) and calcium ion (Ca(2+)) resistance were investigated. The results showed that E-AM/AMPS not only had a dissolution speed 4 times faster than that of W-AM/AMPS but also had superior shear-thinning performance both before and after aging. The filtration property of the bentonite system containing 2 wt % E-AM/AMPS was also better than that of the bentonite system containing 2 wt % W-AM/AMPS. In addition, E-AM/AMPS also exhibited extremely high tolerance for Na(+) and Ca(2+). The huge difference between rheological and filtration properties of E-AM/AMPS and W-AM/AMPS in drilling fluid can be attributed to the differences in the polymer microstructure caused by the two polymerization methods. Both FTIR and (1)H NMR results showed that more hydrogen bonds were formed between E-AM/AMPS molecular groups and molecular chains, which led to a cross-linked network structure of E-AM/AMPS which was observed by TEM. It was this cross-linked network structure that made E-AM/AMPS have a high viscosity and allowed it to be better adsorbed on bentonite particles, thus exhibiting excellent rheological and filtration behavior. In addition, E-AM/AMPS powder had a high specific surface area so that it can be dissolved in water faster, greatly reducing the time and difficulty of configuring drilling fluid.