Effective Crude Oil Pickering Emulsification by Oil-soluble Polymer
Brush through Inverse Phase Emulsion Polymerization
Abstract
Various surfactants and amphipathic polymers have been utilized to
enhance the flowability of crude oil. Alternatively, nanoparticulate
polymer brushes serve as an ideal scaffold to form Pickering emulsions
with crude oil due to its large specific area, excellent stability and
tunable surface properties. In our research, a novel type of oil soluble
polymer brushes was utilized to achieve stable crude oil emulsification
by forming Pickering emulsions in water. Combining inverse emulsion
polymerization and photo-emulsion polymerization, poly(N-Vinylcarbazole)
(PVK) chains were successfully grafted onto the water soluble PAA core
dispersed in hexane and the oil-soluble latex polymer brush features
mono-dispersity, well-tuned size , fluorescence and stability.
Significantly, the amphiphilic latex particles were successfully
utilized to stabilize crude oil droplets in water by forming Pickering
emulsions with apparent viscosity reduced by 99%. These novel particles
could serve as promising candidates to be applied in petrochemical
industry by improving heavy crude oil flowability.