Polymers of Higher Alkyl (Meth)acrylates: The Effects of Structure on Dispersion Properties in Petroleum Oil I-20A

The paper describes a comparative study on the effects of the composition of polymers of higher alkyl (meth)acrylates on their dispersion degree in petroleum oil I-20A. The dispersion degree parameter is evaluated in accordance with a modified spectrophotometric method proposed in the study. It was found that increasing the polymer amphiphilicity by introducing nitrogen-based units in an amount of 5–15% dramatically enhances the dispersion properties, and that amide groups have a stronger effect than amine ones. Increasing the polyalkyl methacrylate amphiphilicity by introducing (in an amount of 5–40%) alkoxy oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (AOEGM) units containing 3–7 ethoxy groups does not enhance the polymer’s dispersion ability. The only exception was a single case of a fairly high dispersion ability achieved for a copolymer containing 30% of AOEGM units with long hydrophilic chains consisting of ten ethoxy groups.