Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2025
A Facile and Efficient Approach for the Production of Reversible Disulfide Cross-linked Micelles
Published on: December 23, 2016
pH-Switchable W/O Polymer Emulsion: A Promising Strategy for Rapid Dissolution of Drag Reducers
Caifu Zhi1, Yong Zhang1, Yun Tian1
1College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, P. R. China.
A novel pH-switchable surfactant, N-(2-morpholinoethyl) oleamide (NMEO), enhances W/O emulsion drag reducer stability and enables rapid polymer release. This innovation balances storage stability with quick dissolution, offering a promising alternative to traditional drag reducers.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Surface Chemistry
Background:
- Traditional W/O emulsion drag reducers use hydrophilic surfactants to improve polymer dissolution.
- Hydrophilic surfactants can compromise W/O emulsion stability, leading to storage and transport issues.
- A need exists for drag reducers with both long-term stability and rapid solubility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design and synthesize a pH-switchable surfactant, N-(2-morpholinoethyl) oleamide (NMEO), for stabilizing W/O emulsion drag reducers.
- To investigate the pH-triggered phase inversion and rapid release capabilities of NMEO-stabilized emulsions.
- To evaluate the storage stability, dissolution time, and drag reduction performance of the novel system.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of N-(2-morpholinoethyl) oleamide (NMEO) as a pH-switchable surfactant.
- Inverse emulsion polymerization of poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid-co-2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) under optimized conditions (oil-water ratio 0.429, NMEO 3 wt%, pH 6.5).
- Assessment of emulsion stability, polymer release kinetics via pH stimulation, and drag reduction efficiency.
Main Results:
- NMEO effectively stabilized W/O polymer emulsions, allowing storage for over 30 days without hydrophilic surfactants.
- pH stimulation (pH < 6) induced rapid phase inversion and complete polymer dissolution within 2.5 minutes.
- The NMEO-based drag reducer achieved 64.67% drag reduction at 0.021 wt% concentration.
- The system demonstrated a balance between prolonged storage stability and rapid solubilization.
Conclusions:
- NMEO is a highly effective pH-switchable surfactant for stabilizing W/O emulsion drag reducers.
- The NMEO-stabilized system offers significant advantages in storage stability and rapid polymer release kinetics.
- This pH-switchable approach provides a viable solution to the limitations of traditional drag reducers, showing great promise for practical applications.
More Related Videos
07:39Facile Synthesis of Worm-like Micelles by Visible Light Mediated Dispersion Polymerization Using Photoredox Catalyst
Published on: June 8, 2016
12:07Fabricating Degradable Thermoresponsive Hydrogels on Multiple Length Scales via Reactive Extrusion, Microfluidics, Self-assembly, and Electrospinning
Published on: April 16, 2018
