Methods and materials for hydrocarbon recovery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9688895-B2
Application number	US-201615237283-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 15, 2016
Priority date	Aug 20, 2010
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

Crosslinked polyolefins for use in recovering or containing hydrocarbons such as hydrocarbons contained in oil, are disclosed. Advantageously, the crosslinked polyolefins absorb the hydrocarbon to form a gel that can be collected and processed by heat to release the collected hydrocarbons.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An absorbent product for use in recovering or containing hydrocarbons, the product comprising a crosslinked polyolefin having the following formula (II):

wherein (CH 2 —CH(R)) represents the same or different olefin repeating unit; R is independently a C 2 -C 30 linear, branched, or cyclic alkyl moiety; n is an integer greater than 500; (CH 2 —CH(Ar)) represents the same or different aromatic repeating unit; Ar is an aryl moiety that can be substituted with one or more R 1 groups; wherein R 1 is a C 1 to C 10 linear, branched, or cyclic alkyl moiety that can be substituted with one or more C 1 to C 5 alkyl groups; p is an integer from 50 to 20,000; R 2 is either present or absent and when R 2 is present, R 2 is a C 1 to C 10 linear, branched, or cyclic alkyl moiety that can be substituted with one or more C 1 to C 5 alkyl groups; X is a cross-linking moiety that is a residue formed by a thermal cycloaddition reaction between two pendant styrene units, or between two pendant olefin units or between a pendant styrene unit and a pendant olefin unit; and q is an integer greater than 5; r is an integer from 0 to 100; n′ is an integer between 200 and 5,000; p′ is an integer between 20 and 2,000; X′ is a branching moiety that is the residue of pendent olefinic unit after a chain transfer reaction incorporating a side chain.

2. The product of claim 1 , wherein X is a cross-linking moiety that is a residue formed by thermal cycloaddition reaction between two pendant styrene units.

3. The product of claim 1 , wherein the crosslinked polyolefin is completely amorphous.

4. The product of claim 1 , wherein the crosslinked polyolefin has a Tg of less than about 10° C.

5. The product of claim 1 , wherein the crosslinked polyolefin has the following formula (I):

6. The product of claim 1 , wherein (CH 2 —CH(R)) represents a C 6 -C 30 alpha olefin repeating unit alone or a C 6 -C 30 alpha olefin repeating unit with other olefin repeating units.

7. The crosslinked polyolefin of claim 1 , wherein X is a crosslinking moiety that is a residue formed by a thermal cycloaddition reaction between two pendant styrene units, or between two pendant olefin units or between a pendant styrene unit and a pendant olefin unit.

8. The product of claim 5 , wherein (CH 2 —CH(R)) represents a C 6 -C 30 alpha olefin repeating unit alone or a C 6 -C 30 alpha olefin repeating unit with other olefin repeating units.

9. The crosslinked polyolefin of claim 5 , wherein X is a crosslinking moiety that is a residue formed by a thermal cycloaddition reaction between two pendant styrene units, or between two pendant olefin units or between a pendant styrene unit and a pendant olefin unit.

Assignees

• Penn State Res Found

Inventors

• Chung Tze Chiang
• Yuan Xue Pei

Classifications

• C08F10/00

  Homopolymers and copolymers of unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons having only one carbon-to-carbon double bond · CPC title

• C09K3/32 Primary

  for absorbing liquids to remove pollution, e.g. oil, gasoline, fat · CPC title

• C08F210/14

  Monomers containing five or more carbon atoms · CPC title

• C02F1/681

  by addition of solid materials for removing an oily layer on water · CPC title

• C08F212/08

  Styrene · CPC title