EASILY DISPERSIBLE POLYMER POWDER FOR HYDROCARBON EXTRACTION

A dry polymer powder for use in enhanced petroleum recovery without being prehydrated before being added to water or brine to be introduced into a wellhead. The dry polymer powder consisting of at least one of a polyacrylamide, a copolymer of acrylamide and acrylic acid, a functionalized derivatives thereof, a galactomannan, or cellulosic polymer or derivatives thereof, and the polymer can be crosslinked or not crosslinked, provided that if they are homo- or co-polymers of acrylic acid, they are not crosslinked. The dry polymer powder is sized between two size limits, namely at least about 85 wt % of particles of a size smaller than about 40-mesh, and at least 75 wt % of particles of a size greater than 200-mesh, which size range ensures that the dry polymer powder will efficiently hydrate in the water or brine within about one minute without forming fisheyes.