Review of characterization methods for water-soluble polymers used in oil sand and heavy oil industrial applications

Abstract

Water-soluble polymers have been used in many applications in the oil sand and heavy oil industries, including drilling, enhanced oil recovery, tailings treatment, and water treatment. Because they are water soluble, residual polymer can remain with the aqueous phase, potentially leading to environmental impacts. Investigating the environmental fate of these water-soluble polymers is particularly important as they may be toxic to aquatic biota or terrestrial animal life. However, since polymers are somewhat complex because of their high molecular weight, there are many challenges in their measurement, especially in complex matrices. In this paper, polymers used in oilfield applications, particularly in the oil sand or heavy oil industries, are reviewed and various analytical methods for polymer characterization are compared.