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Review
. 2024 Jun 7;14(12):996.
doi: 10.3390/nano14120996.

Systematic Review of Solubility, Thickening Properties and Mechanisms of Thickener for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Xiaohui Wang  1   2 , Qihong Zhang  1 , Shiwei Liang  1 , Songqing Zhao  3
Affiliations
Review

Systematic Review of Solubility, Thickening Properties and Mechanisms of Thickener for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Xiaohui Wang et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

Supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) has extremely important applications in the extraction of unconventional oil and gas, especially in fracturing and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies. It can not only relieve water resource wastage and environmental pollution caused by traditional mining methods, but also effectively store CO2 and mitigate the greenhouse effect. However, the low viscosity nature of supercritical CO2 gives rise to challenges such as viscosity fingering, limited sand-carrying capacity, high filtration loss, low oil and gas recovery efficiency, and potential rock adsorption. To overcome these challenges, low-rock-adsorption thickeners are required to enhance the viscosity of supercritical CO2. Through research into the literature, this article reviews the solubility and thickening characteristics of four types of polymer thickeners, namely surfactants, hydrocarbons, fluorinated polymers, and silicone polymers in supercritical CO2. The thickening mechanisms of polymer thickeners were also analyzed, including intermolecular interactions, LA-LB interactions, hydrogen bonding, and functionalized polymers, and so on.

Keywords: functionalized polymer; intermolecular interaction; supercritical CO2; thickener.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structures of Na+(di–HCF4) and M2+(di–HCF4). Reprinted (adapted) with permission from [44]. Copyright© 2010, American Chemical Society.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Thickening mechanism of silicone terpolymer [71].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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