Densifying carbon dioxide with a dispersion of carbon dioxide-philic water capsules

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11060014-B2
Application number	US-201916518530-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 22, 2019
Priority date	Nov 12, 2012
Publication date	Jul 13, 2021
Grant date	Jul 13, 2021

Abstract

This invention generally relates to the field of oil recovery from reservoirs. More specifically, it relates to the recovery of oil from sandstone and carbonate reservoirs using a process for preparing a dispersion of capsules for use downhole including the steps of providing capsules containing a dense liquid, each capsule having a capsule wall defining an inner area, the capsule wall having an outer side. The capsules are functionalized by adding a carbon dioxide-philic compound to the outer side of the capsule wall. A dispersion is then prepared by adding the functionalized capsules to supercritical carbon dioxide such that a stable dispersion of capsules in supercritical carbon dioxide is achieved.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for preparing a stable capsule dispersion, the process comprising the steps of:
providing co-polymerized capsules containing a dense liquid with a density greater than that of supercritical carbon dioxide;
functionalizing the co-polymerized capsules by adding a carbon dioxide-philic compound to the outer sides of the capsule walls to create functionalized co-polymerized capsules; and
preparing the stable capsule dispersion by adding the functionalized co-polymerized capsules to a continuous phase of supercritical carbon dioxide such that a stable dispersion of the functionalized co-polymerized capsules in supercritical carbon dioxide is achieved, where the capsule wall of each functionalized capsule defines an inner area and has an outer side functionalized with the carbon dioxide-philic compound after formation of the capsules, the carbon dioxide-philic compound comprising multiple functional groups attached to the outer side by functionalization to stabilize each functionalized co-polymerized capsule in the continuous phase of supercritical carbon dioxide, the multiple functional groups extending outwardly from the outer side where attached and into the continuous phase of supercritical carbon dioxide, such that the density of the capsule dispersion is greater than the density of supercritical carbon dioxide at the same conditions and such that the viscosity of the capsule dispersion is greater than the viscosity of supercritical carbon dioxide at the same conditions.

2. The process according to claim 1 , where the step of providing the capsules comprises:
providing a first liquid, the first liquid having a density greater than the density of supercritical carbon dioxide,
adding a first monomer to the first liquid to create a first monomer-liquid composition;
providing a second liquid, the second liquid operable to form a liquid phase when combined with the first liquid;
adding a second monomer to the second liquid to create a second monomer-liquid composition;
adding the first monomer-liquid composition to the second monomer-liquid composition;
agitating the first monomer-liquid composition and the second monomer-liquid composition to create a dispersion of first monomer-liquid composition in the second monomer-liquid composition; and
allowing the first and second monomers to diffuse and to co-polymerize at a liquid-liquid interface at a pre-determined time such that co-polymerized capsules are formed encapsulating the first liquid.

3. The process of claim 1 , where the dense liquid has a density of at least about 0.5 g/cc.

4. The process of claim 1 , where the functionalized capsules have a size in a range of from about 10 nanometers to about 1,000 nanometers.

5. The process of claim 1 , where the functionalized capsules have a size in a range of from about 50 nanometers to about 250 nanometers.

6. The process of claim 1 , where the functionalized capsules have a size in a range of from about 5 micrometers to about 500 micrometers.

7. The process of claim 1 , where the functionalized capsules have a size in a range of from about 50 micrometers to about 250 micrometers.

8. The process of claim 1 , where the dense liquid is a dense aqueous liquid.

9. The process of claim 1 , where the dense liquid is water.

10. The process of claim 1 , where the dense liquid is a heavy liquid filler selected from the group consisting of toluene, crude oil, ester, silicone oil, alcohols, acetone, and combinations thereof.

11. The process of claim 1 , where the capsule wall of each functionalized capsule is composed of a co-polymer that is the polymerization product of a first co-monomer and a second co-monomer.

12. The process of claim 2 , where the first monomer is selected from the group consisting of triethylene tetramine, hexamethylene tetramine, ethylene diamine, hexamethylene diamine, diethylene triamine, and combinations thereof.

13. The process of claim 2 , where the second monomer is selected from the group consisting of polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyante, hexamethylene diisocyanate, 1,4 phenylene diisocyanate, toluene 2,4 diisocyanate, and combinations thereof.

14. The process of claim 2 , where the first monomer comprises triethylene tetramine.

15. The process of claim 14 , where the second monomer comprises polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate.

16. The process of claim 1 , wherein the carbon dioxide-philic compound comprises fluorinated carbon dioxide-soluble surfactant or oxygenated hydrocarbon carbon dioxide-philic molecules.

17. The process of claim 1 , where the capsule wall of each functionalized capsule is composed of a hydrogel selected from the group consisting of gelatin, chitosan, starch, alginate, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene oxide, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polyisopropyl acrylamide, and combinations thereof.

18. The process of claim 1 , where the carbon dioxide-philic compound comprises poly (1,1 dihydroperfluoroctyl acrylate).

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Al-Otaibi Fawaz
• Kokal Sunil
• Schmidt Howard
• Chang Yun

Classifications

• E21B43/164 Primary

  Injecting CO2 or carbonated water (in combination with organic material C09K8/594) · CPC title

• Y02P90/70

  Combining sequestration of CO2 and exploitation of hydrocarbons by injecting CO2 or carbonated water in oil wells · CPC title

• C09K8/594 Primary

  Compositions used in combination with injected gas {, e.g. CO2 orcarbonated gas}(C09K8/592 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C09K8/588

  characterised by the use of specific polymers {(polymeric surfactants C09K8/584)} · CPC title

• B01J13/16

  Interfacial polymerisation · CPC title