The Rise of Natural Polymers in the Oil & Gas Industry: A Guide

The oil and gas industry is known for its heavy reliance on synthetic materials, however a growing movement is changing how we approach this industry.

Today, let’s talk about natural polymers for oil & gas industry applications. They are rapidly gaining traction. What is driving this change, and why should you pay attention?

I’ve spent years in this field, and what I’ve seen is exciting. Natural polymers are not just about being “eco-friendly,” they offer real practical advantages that are shaking things up.

In this article, I will discuss why the shift toward natural polymers for oil & gas industry operations is happening, the exciting potential they hold, and what the future might look like for this important field.

The Rise of Natural Polymeric Materials

Why is there buzz around natural polymeric materials?

Because there is a growing recognition that the oil & gas industry needs to become more sustainable.

This is not just about public image; it’s about a real business advantage. What have I witnessed first hand?

Companies seeking a lower environmental footprint are discovering a gold mine in these natural materials.

What is more, natural polymers often perform just as well, if not better, than their synthetic counterparts.

What Exactly are Natural Polymeric Materials?

We can get these naturally occurring polymers from several sources, like plant or animal matter, rather than being produced from fossil fuels like most synthetic polymers.

Many experts agree that using natural polymers for oil & gas industry applications will play a large part in meeting the industry’s sustainability goals.

They make great substitutes in applications that currently utilize synthetic polymers.

This including activities like drilling fluids, Enhanced Oil Recovery, conformance control and produced water treatment,

Natural Versus Synthetic Polymers in Oil & Gas Industry

The oil and gas industry uses polymers in several applications.

One of these applications is the separation of suspended solids, trace hydrocarbons and other contaminants from produced water in oilfield operations.

You might know them as flocculants or coagulants. They pull together these contaminants to makes it easier to remove them from the water.

There are two main types of polymers: natural and synthetic.

Synthetic polymers are made from petroleum products. Natural polymers come from nature. Think of things like plants or marine life.

However, there are some problems with conventional synthetic polymers and metal salts such as polyacrylamide, polydadmac.

They can be bad for the environment and in many cases they do not break down in nature.

This is an important issue because we want to protect the ecosystems that we live in.

Natural polymers, though, are different. They are better for the environment because they are derived from nature and usually break down naturally over time.

One natural polymer getting a lot of attention is called Zeoturb. It is a sustainable liquid bio organic flocculant. It is derived from marine life and is really good at binding with trace oil and other contaminants that oil/gas operators do not want in their water.

It helps as a part of a multi-step treatment process to remediate the water for sustainable reuse or discharge.

Applications of Natural Polymers in Oil/Gas Industry

Natural polymers are gaining significant attention in the oil and gas industry due to their environmentally friendly properties and versatile applications.

In the production stage, these polymers are utilized as drilling fluid additives, helping to control viscosity, reduce fluid loss, and improve wellbore stability. They also serve as effective lubricants, reducing friction during drilling operations and minimizing wear on equipment.

Additionally, natural polymers are employed in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques, where they act as thickening agents to improve sweep efficiency and increase oil production from mature fields.

During processing operations, natural polymers play a crucial role in various separation processes.

They are used as demulsifiers to break down oil-water emulsions, facilitating the separation of oil from water in production fluids.

These polymers also find applications in gas processing, where they act as hydrate inhibitors, preventing the formation of gas hydrates that can block pipelines and equipment.

Furthermore, natural polymers are utilized in pipeline transport, serving as drag reducers to improve flow efficiency and reduce pumping costs.

In the treatment of produced water, natural polymers like Zeoturb have emerged as effective flocculants and coagulants. They aid in the removal of suspended solids, oil droplets, and other contaminants from produced water, allowing for more efficient water treatment and recycling.

These polymers can also act as scale and corrosion inhibitors, preventing the formation of mineral deposits in treatment equipment and pipelines.

The use of natural polymers in produced water treatment not only improves water quality for reuse or disposal but also helps oil and gas companies meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations and sustainability goals.

Drilling Fluid Formulation Using Bio-Derived Materials

In oil field operations, drilling fluid plays a vital role, however this “mud” (as we often call it on-site) presents a challenge – the chemicals needed for effective drilling mud often pose environmental hazards.

Now, drilling fluids are complex, there’s a lot that goes into them; they’re not only for lubricating and cooling the drill bit but for removing cutting from wells, maintaining pressure control, and stabilizing the borehole.

For years we’ve used a host of synthetic chemicals to do all of this, which gets expensive.

What’s the biggest problem I’ve seen though? When you’ve got a project in a sensitive ecological area, using those conventional fluids just is not feasible.

The solution? A class of water based drilling fluids called water-based muds (WBMs). While some still use additives like partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, natural polymers offer a better option in these cases, which I will get into in the next section.

Overbalanced Versus Underbalanced Drilling

One important factor to think about when choosing your drilling fluids, is the specific drilling technique used: Overbalanced drilling (OBD) versus underbalanced drilling (UBD).

Overbalanced drilling means you are drilling with more pressure than what the reservoir puts out. It is considered the safer choice as far as wellbore stability and pressure management are concerned.

With underbalanced drilling though, the fluid in the well has less pressure than what the formation is pushing out.

This technique can really help in improving production rates from wells as you are getting less blockage in the well from things like drilling fluids.

Underbalanced drilling however requires very precise control, it’s tricky to get just right. I’ve worked on projects that chose UBD due to sensitive reservoir conditions.

What I saw is this – choosing the correct fluids, often based on the location of the well and specific environmental regulations, makes or breaks an underbalanced drilling project.

Examples of Natural Polymers for Drilling Fluid Formulation

Numerous studies point to various applications where naturally occurring polymers offer viable solutions, including the following:

Soy protein:

This plentiful protein can be processed into soy protein isolate (SPI) and effectively added to drilling fluid.

What is unique about this? At a low concentration, soy protein in drilling fluid forms a thick, porous layer called filter cake which is ideal in instances where maintaining a stable pressure is vital.

Although this may appear problematic, in underbalanced drilling, where high permeability and faster flow are needed, soy protein comes in clutch.

Higher concentrations though will produce a thinner, less porous filter cake, perfect when tighter control and less fluid loss is important.

Rice husk:

This surprising material comes in handy too. Rice husk is unique because it has naturally occurring polymers that resist water, and it’s quite tough to decompose.

That translates to an environmentally friendly ingredient for improving the stability and effectiveness of your drilling fluids.

Date pit:

This by-product of date processing is a superstar.

The chemical composition of date pits makes it exceptionally useful.

Think viscosity control, fluid density management, and even improved thermal properties.

I’ve had a chance to utilize date pits as an additive and what’s amazing is you can literally tune the characteristics of the drilling fluid by varying the size and concentration of the date pit particles.

Our experience in the concentration can yield great performance for your oil/gas operations.

Crushed Date Palm seeds:

I’ve seen situations on oil rigs where you encounter unexpected voids and gaps in the formation as you drill, this is called lost circulation.

This causes a sudden drop in fluid pressure and it can wreak havoc on a project.

But crushed Date Palm seeds work incredibly well to plug up those pesky openings and make sure you can continue drilling smoothly.

These seeds are incredibly robust and can even be used at higher temperatures.

Cassava Starch:

The choice of cassava variety has a profound impact. Specifically, cassava that has high levels of amylose creates a higher-viscosity fluid and provides much-needed fluid loss control.

I recall a situation where one of our clients was grappling with troublesome formation clays that kept wanting to swell and clog up the wellbore.

You’ve got to make sure the fluid flows to keep the drilling operation going smoothly, but with so many harsh chemical thinners out there it can be a tricky situation.

But, specific Cassava starch powders did the trick.

Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), Guar Gum, and Starch:

The combo of Carboxymethyl cellulose, Guar gum, and specific starches gives an excellent, multi-pronged solution that checks all the boxes for oil/gas drilling mud performance.

Natural Polymers for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (cEOR)

When we talk oil production there is primary, secondary and tertiary recovery methods.

But the one we will focus on here is the chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (cEOR), often shortened to just EOR.

Once you’ve tapped a reservoir’s initial flow, you need additional strategies, that’s where this tertiary technique is used.

One of these chemical EOR techniques is polymer flooding, which has become widely used by industry giants such as Saudi Aramco and Exxonmobil in recent years.

It essentially involves injecting special fluids into a well to get the remaining crude oil that the initial recovery methods could not get, as shown below:

Method	Description	Benefit	Materials	Challenges
Surfactant Flooding	Using surface tension-lowering substances (surfactants) to help get the oil unstuck from the rock in a reservoir.	Reduces the “stickiness” of oil. Lets it move more freely to be extracted.	Surfactants, cosurfactants	Finding compatible, stable, and efficient surfactants for various reservoir conditions. This method often works best in conjunction with polymer flooding for ideal recovery.
Polymer Flooding	Adding long-chain molecules to make the water we inject thicker, or to displace the oil by blocking certain flow paths in the reservoir, so it flows where we want it to.	Boosts water viscosity for more even and effective pushing of the oil.	Partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, Polysaccharides (Xanthan Gum), Bio-based polymers, Polyethylene Glycol	Degradation of the polymers at high reservoir temperatures, leading to lower recovery. This process can be costly to execute and it is quite time consuming for a worthwhile return on your investment.
Alkali Flooding	Injecting an alkaline (or “basic”) substance, like sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide into the reservoir.	Can help by reacting with some components of the crude oil. This process will create soaps that act as natural surfactants and lower surface tension, helping the oil to flow out more easily.	Sodium carbonate, Sodium hydroxide	Alkali flooding can react unpredictably in some reservoir conditions, and sometimes does more damage than it helps. Another drawback? Formation damage due to mineral precipitation can occur. Like the previous chemical methods mentioned, alkali flooding requires expensive implementation.

Challenges in EOR & Sustainable Alternatives

While the principle is straightforward enough, chemical EOR presents practical hurdles.

The big one? Cost. It’s resource-intensive. Plus, oil prices have wild swings, sometimes those conventional polymers are simply out of budget.

While those traditional synthetic polymers have their strengths, they struggle when you get reservoirs that are salty or hot.

Those challenging environments just break them down.

Here’s where it gets interesting, for decades companies have spent billions of dollars perfecting polymer and surfactant chemistry – But, now scientists are digging deep into naturally occurring materials.

Their advantages?

Sustainable, less of an environmental burden, often work beautifully in those tough conditions.

And often are much cheaper. Sounds crazy right?

This shift is just getting started. Let’s take a closer look at how the research is playing out:

Cotton Gum:

It’s fascinating to me that studies out of places like the Middle East, where the climate and conditions are incredibly demanding, are pioneering new approaches with readily available natural resources.

Cotton Gum from the plant Gossypium herbaceum found in places like Pakistan and elsewhere offer advantages similar to other cellulosic polymers. However, they also have additional unique qualities along with being more resistant to those salty reservoirs.

Soap nuts:

The nuts from the soap nut tree give us naturally occurring saponins that can act as surfactants.

Research shows that this readily-available plant extract combined with guar gum can boost oil recovery.

You get less waste to manage, a lower environmental impact, and potentially less risk of damaging the reservoir compared with synthetic alternatives.

Date Pit:

Not only is Date pit fantastic for formulating drilling fluid, it shines as a “mobility control agent” as well.

It has the unique property of thickening the water used in the extraction process.

You know what I love about it?

You just grind those date pits, mix them with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) in water, and presto – you have a low-cost solution that can improve oil recovery by reducing the tendency for injected water to bypass areas that are rich in oil deposits.

Bio surfactants from Dates:

We are not limited to the pit when it comes to Dates.

What if I told you we can create “bio surfactants compounds by using waste molasses?

The fascinating world of microorganisms can transform common waste streams, that we thought were completely worthless, into valuable products like “bio surfactants”.

These act very similarly to conventional chemical surfactants, lowering the surface tension in a reservoir, which makes oil move out much more efficiently.

I find the recent research that is being done with “Bacillus subtilis,” a species of harmless bacteria, incredibly fascinating because they give very high recoveries at an optimized cost.

This is something to pay close attention to. This really underscores how interconnected things are.

You are not looking at these chemical reactions as completely separate things.

Conformance Control in Oil & Gas Using Natural Polymers

You’ve put a ton of work into a well, only to discover you’re getting way too much water coming up.

It is more than just a production challenge. The chemical treatment for excess water is not always viable or cost-effective, that’s when we utilize Conformance control.

What is even worse?

Excess water can create a nightmare of corrosion problems. This can wreck your infrastructure – pipelines, casings, you name it – not to mention it creates problems with scale formation that can cripple production rates.

In the past, companies just resigned themselves to building big water treatment plants which can get costly.

But here is what has come from years of academic research: naturally derived materials can improve our conformance control measures to address these issues and improve the sustainability of the petroleum industry, let’s take a closer look:

Polymer Gels:

One of the main methods that is used for water and gas shut-off involves special “gels.”

Think about them like a plugging material that we strategically inject.

These gels fill those voids and unwanted pathways to stop water or gas from taking a shortcut back to your wellbore, forcing them to travel through your desired production pathway in your reservoir.

Date Seed Enhanced Hydrogels:

If I told you we can get Date pits to “tune” how our plugging material sets, what would you say?

Turns out, blending natural date pit powder into commonly used polymers (often in the form of hydrogels) drastically improves performance.

Gas Shut-Off:

It’s exciting that this research is not limited to water, some researchers are taking a fresh approach to tackling excessive gas in production.

How do we do it? Oil/gas operators can utilize Date Pit/Polysulfone composites to control gas flow. Polysulfone is known for making excellent filters – strong, robust, good in those extreme temperatures and pressures.

Blending those finely-ground date pit powder with polysulfone not only gives us a gas-blocking filter that is sustainable but it significantly improves its efficiency compared to standard materials.

It helps us be better environmental stewards by lowering our reliance on synthetic chemicals.

That really caught my eye, there’s huge potential there for an oil and gas industry that can optimize its operations in the most sustainable way through nature.

Conclusion

What is fascinating is that for years, natural polymers for oil & gas industry applications seemed like an “alternative” approach.

As someone that’s seen the downsides of traditional conventional methods in a wide range of operating conditions, I believe they are becoming more than just a nice-to-have.

They will become vital for the long-term success and sustainability of the petroleum industry.

Why do I feel so confident in that prediction?

Simply put, it’s not just about saving the environment and becoming more sustainable – these natural polymeric materials often outperform the standard synthetic options in many cases.

Want to learn more about how biopolymers like Zeoturb can help optimize your oil/gas operations?

Contact the water & wastewater treatment experts at Genesis Water Technologies, Inc. at 1-321-280-2742 or reach out to us via email at customersupport@genesiswatertech.com to discuss your specific application.