Study of Intrinsic Viscosity and Flow Activation Energy of Some Polymers in Different Solvents

Abstract

The intrinsic viscosity has been studied for several polymers which are used in some industrial applications, such as polyisobutylene of types Oppanol B150, 200, and 250 with different molecular weights of 2.5, 4.1 and 5.9 million g/mole, respectively, which dissolved in crude and gas oil. In addition three types of additives brought from Al-Dura refinery, olefin copolymer (OCP), {viscoples-4-677, viscoplex-215496, and Lubrizol R 7077} which dissolved in crude oil, and the polymers which is soluble in water such as polyacrylamide with high molecular weight and xanthan gum with molecular weight 3.7 million g/mole where also studied. It was found that the intrinsic viscosity of polyisobutylene decrease as the temperature increase in crude and gas oil. The olefin copolymer (Viscoplex-4-677) showed the same behavior as polyisobutylene where it can be used as drag reduction agent. It was noted that neutral polymers as well as polyelectrolytes could be used as drag reduction agent.

Keywords

• Intrinsic viscosity
• Neutral polymers
• Polyelectrolyte