Natural oil-derived wellbore compositions and methods of use

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9932511-B2
Application number	US-201514797751-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2015
Priority date	Jan 17, 2014
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

Compositions useful as wellbore fluids are generally disclosed. In some embodiments, the compositions include polymerizable olefinic surfactant compositions, which, under certain conditions, can polymerize via free-radical polymerization to form surfactant polymers. In some embodiments, the compositions are introduced to an oil well as part of the drilling or extraction process, e.g., to assist in flushing hydrocarbon material out of subterranean formations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wellbore composition, comprising:
an aqueous carrier; and
polymers comprising constitutional units formed from the polymerization of monomer compounds of formula (II):

wherein: X 2 is C 1-24 alkylene, which is optionally substituted;
R 4 is an anionic surfactant head group, a cationic surfactant head group, a zwitterionic head group, or a non-ionic surfactant head group;
R 5 is C 1-60 alkyl or C 2-60 alkenyl, each of which is optionally substituted; and
R 6 is —H or C 1-6 alkyl, which is optionally substituted.

2. The wellbore composition of claim 1 , wherein R 4 comprises a quaternary ammonium group, which is optionally substituted.

3. The wellbore fluid of claim 1 , wherein X 2 is a straight-chain C 4-10 alkylene, which is optionally oxidized at the carbon atom adjacent to R 4 .

4. The wellbore composition of claim 3 , wherein X 2 is —(C═O)—(CH 2 ) 7 — or —(CH 2 ) 8 —.

5. The wellbore composition of claim 4 , wherein X 2 is —(CH 2 ) 8 —.

6. The wellbore composition of claim 1 , wherein R 6 is —H.

7. The wellbore composition of claim 1 , wherein R 5 is C 1-7 alkyl.

8. The wellbore composition of claim 7 , wherein R 5 is methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, pentyl, hexyl, or heptyl.

9. The wellbore composition of claim 1 , wherein R 5 is C 9-11 alkyl.

10. The wellbore composition of claim 9 , wherein R 5 is nonyl, decyl, or undecyl.

11. The wellbore composition of claim 1 , wherein R 5 is C 13-30 alkyl.

12. The wellbore composition of claim 11 , wherein R 5 is tetradecyl, hexadecyl, octadecyl, icosanyl, docosanyl, or tetracosanyl.

13. The wellbore composition of claim 1 , wherein at least 70 percent by weight of the constitutional units in the polymers are constitutional units formed from the polymerization of monomer compounds of formula (II), based on the number-average molecular weight of the polymers in the composition.

14. The wellbore composition of claim 1 , wherein the polymers are formed by free-radical polymerization.

15. The wellbore composition of claim 1 , wherein the number-average molecular weight of the polymers ranges from 1,000 Da to 200,000 Da.

16. The wellbore composition of claim 1 , further comprising one or more additives or additional ingredients.

17. A method of treating a well, comprising:
introducing to a well the wellbore composition of claim 1 .

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the well is an oil well or a gas well.

19. A method of increasing the permeability of a hydrocarbon-containing subterranean formation, comprising:
contacting a subterranean hydrocarbon-containing formation with the wellbore composition of claim 1 .

Assignees

• Elevance Renewable Sciences

Inventors

• Littich Ryan
• Coburn Charles

Classifications

• C09K8/588

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

• C09K8/88

  macromolecular compounds · CPC title

• C09K8/584

  characterised by the use of specific surfactants · CPC title

• C09K8/12 Primary

  containing synthetic organic macromolecular compounds or their precursors · CPC title