High-performance polymers based on PEG and PAMAM dendrimer to inhibit clay swelling in water.

Polyoxyalkylenes are widely studied as clay swelling inhibitors. Although many additives are available, the operations require more efficient formulations. This work synthesized and characterized two of molecules: poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG) modified with hydrocarbon chains of different lengths; and poly(amidoamine) dendrimers(PAMAM) and PEG-modified PAMAM. The clay swelling inhibition efficiency was evaluated by the Foster swelling test. For the hydrophobized PEG derivatives, there is an optimum hydrocarbon chain size (C6-C10) to achieve the best performance. The best result was obtained for PEG-modified PAMAM(1:1), tested for the first time, being its performance even better than a commercial additive widely used in the petroleum industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]