Preparation and properties of modified nano-montmorillonite viscosity reducers

The nanometer sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMT), hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), and octadecyl trimethyl sodium chloride (OTAC) were used as reaction monomers and ethanol as solvent, and two oil soluble viscosity reducers MMT-CTAB and MMT-OTAC were synthesized. Structural characterization experiment of modified montmorillonite were conducted by the infrared spectrometer, thermogravimetric analyzer, contact angle tester, scanning electron microscope, and dispersion observation. 20 wt% wax-containing model oil was chosen as the research object. The properties of two viscosity reducers on the pour point and viscosity of model oil were studied experimentally. The results showed that the two modified montmorillonite viscosity reducers were successfully prepared. And both can reduce the pour point and viscosity of model oil. The performance of MMT-OTAC was better than MMT-CTAB, which can reduce the pour point of model oil by 6 degrees C and the viscosity by 91.1%.