The construction of a temperature-sensitive foaming agent

What is Foaming agents

The conventional foam drainage technology needs to be defoamed, which is not convenient for its popularization and application. In view of this problem, from the point of molecular design, a temperature-responsive surfactant was designed and synthesized. In the synthetic process, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether carboxylic acid, diethanolamine, and sodium chloroacetate were used as raw materials. First, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether carboxylic acid reacted with diethanolamine to generate a tertiary amine with hydroxyl catalyzed by sulfoxide chloride, and the intermediate product then reacted with sodium chloroacetate by the quaternary amine reaction to afford the target temperature-responsive surfactant. The foaming agent can achieve conformational transformation in the temperature range of 20 °C to 120 °C, resulting in the structural change of the self-assembly and regulating the stability of the foam, which makes the formed foam burst rapidly at low temperatures and be super-stable at high temperatures. The indoor evaluations show that the foaming height of the foaming agent is basically unchanged at the same temperature after four temperature-changing cycles, and the temperature-controlled defoaming rate reaches 90%, indicating that it has the intelligent temperature response switching performance of "high-temperature defoaming, low-temperature defoaming." Its preparation process is simple, low-cost, and environmentally friendly. It is expected to be popularized and applied in the field of gas fields, expand the application scope of foam drainage technology, reduce the cost of foam drainage, and help the efficient development of gas fields.

The construction of a temperature-sensitive foaming agent 

Temperature-sensitive foam is foam whose stability can be controlled by temperature. The foaming agent is the most important and basic component of the foam system. Hence, the construction of a temperature-sensitive foaming agent is the key to building a temperature-sensitive foam system. In 2011, the Fameau group first carried out research on temperature-sensitive foam, and an ultra-stable temperature-responsive foam was first reported by the co-assembly of 12-hydroxystearic acid (12-HSA) and ethanolamine or hexanolamine salt, and reversible change could be achieved in the temperature range of 20 °C to 50 °C. However, the upper limit of the response temperature of this foam cannot meet the requirements of the gas well drainage temperature. Raghavan's group investigated the viscosity of the C22 cationic surfactant, erucic acid dihydroxyethyl methyl ammonium chloride (EHAC), in saline solutions using steady-state and dynamic rheological methods. The surfactant (EHAC) self-assembles into large worm-like micelles upon heating (∼90 °C), generating an unusually strong viscoelasticity (viscosity > 10 Pa s). The upper limit of the response temperature is high, but its foaming and foaming stabilization ability has not been systematically studied. Novel smart foam is currently the main research direction, and a variety of ideas have been proposed for the development of temperature-sensitive foam. Regarding the development of temperature-sensitive foaming agents, the basic principle is regulating the breaking and recombination of self-assemblies in the solution with temperature changes. From the perspective of molecular design, the two surfactants are connected by linking groups, which reduces the electrostatic repulsion between the head groups and enables them to align closely at the interface, making it easier to self-assemble micelles. Additionally, the temperature-sensitive ethoxy chain segment is introduced into Gemini surfactants; with the increase in temperature, the ethoxy chain dehydrates, the hydrophilic head group area decreases, and the hydrophobic chain segment length increases, promoting micelle growth. Based on this idea, a novel surfactant has been synthesized to achieve conformational transformation in the temperature range of 20 °C to 120 °C, which leads to changing the assembly structure and adjusting the stability of the foam. Temperature-sensitive foam bursts quickly at low temperatures and has super stability at high temperatures, which is of great significance to simplifying the foam defoaming process and effectively improving the recovery of gas reservoirs.

Temperature response performance of Foaming agents

In order to further verify the temperature response performance of the foaming agent, the high-temperature and high-pressure foam apparatus was used to investigate the same foaming agent at various temperatures from 25 to 120 °C. The heating rate was about 0.5 °C min−1, and the cooling rate was about 0.1 °C min−1. The change of the foam height after every heating or cooling was recorded. During the heating process, the foaming height of the temperature-sensitive foaming agent increased significantly with the increase in temperature. During the cooling process, the foaming height decreased gradually. The foam at 120 °C even exceeded the imaging range of the foam apparatus window. The system was further heated and cooled, repeated many times, and the foaming height after the temperature change was recorded. The foaming height of GACB at room temperature was less than 30 mm, and after heating, the foaming height of the foaming agent reached more than 40 mm. After four temperature-changing cycles, the foaming height at the same temperature was basically unchanged. Therefore, it is proved that GACB has temperature response performance and can realize multiple cycles of foaming height variation with temperature.

Price of Foaming agents

Foaming agents particle size and purity will affect the product's Price, and the purchase volume can also affect the cost of Foaming agents. A large amount of large amount will be lower. The Price of Foaming agents is on our company's official website.

Foaming agents supplier

If you are looking for high-quality Foaming agents, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. (sales@cabr-concrete.com). We accept payment via Credit Card, T/T, West Union, and Paypal. TRUNNANO will ship the goods to customers overseas through FedEx, DHL, by air, or by sea.