Method of Enhancing Hydration of Viscosifiers Using Controlled Mechanically Induced Cavitation

Abstract

A method of hydrating a dry powdered viscosifier such as a powdered polymer is disclosed. The method includes mixing the powdered viscosifier with a solvent such as water to form a mixture; moving the mixture through a cavitation zone; inducing energetic shock waves and pressure fluctuations in the mixture by mechanically inducing cavitation events within the mixture, the shock waves and pressure fluctuations untangling, separating, and straightening polymer molecule chains and distributing the chains throughout the mixture, and extracting the resulting hydrated viscosifier from the cavitation zone.

1 . A method of enhancing hydration of a powdered viscosifier comprising the steps of:
 (a) obtaining a powdered viscosifier to be dehydrated;   (b) obtaining a solvent to be used to dehydrate the viscosifier;   (c) combining the viscosifier and the solvent to produce a mixture;   (d) generating cavitation events within the mixture resulting in shock waves and pressure variations that propagate through the mixture;   (e) as a result of step (d), separating the powder particles in the powdered viscosifier allowing the solvent to surround the powder  p articles;   (f) as a result of step (d) forcing solvent molecules into and out of powder particles to untangle, hydrate, and straighten viscosifier molecule chains contained within the powder particles;   (g) distributing hydrated molecule chains substantially evenly throughout the mixture; and   (h) collecting the resulting mixture.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  where in step (a) the viscosifier comprises a polymer. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the polymer comprises dehydrated polymer chains. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  where in step (b) the solvent comprises water containing H 2 O molecules. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein step (c) comprises establishing a flow of the solvent and introducing the powdered viscosifier into the flow of solvent. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein step (d) comprises moving the mixture through the cavitation zone of a controlled cavitation reactor. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the controlled cavitation reactor comprises a cylindrical housing having an interior wall and a cylindrical rotor having a peripheral surface rotatably mounted in the housing, the cavitation zone being formed between the peripheral surface of the rotor and the interior wall of the housing. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising bores formed in the peripheral surface of the rotor, and wherein step (d) comprises rotating the rotor within the housing with mixture within the cavitation zone. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step as a result of step (d) of breaking up lumps of powdered viscosifier powder to minimize fish eyes in the mixture. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of subjecting the mixture to a batch mixing process before step (a). 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of subjecting the mixture to a batch mixing process following step (h). 
     
     
         12 . A method of hydrating a viscosifier powder using a solvent, the method comprising the steps of:
 (a) establishing a flow of the solvent through an inlet conduit of a controlled cavitation reactor;   (b) introducing the viscosifier powder into the flow of the solvent to produce a mixture of viscosifier powder and solvent flowing through the inlet conduit;   (c) urging the mixture from the conduit into a controlled cavitation reactor having a generally cylindrical housing containing a cylindrical rotating rotor, the housing having an internal cylindrical wall and the rotor having a peripheral surface with radial bores spaced from the internal cylindrical wall to define a cavitation zone therebetween;   (d) moving the mixture through the cavitation zone of the controlled cavitation reactor;   (e) rotating the rotor to induce cavitation events in the mixture within the bores of the rotor, the cavitation events resulting in shock waves and pressure variations within the mixture in the cavitation zone;   (f) as a result of step (e), separating particles of the viscosifier powder and distributing the separated particles substantially uniformly throughout the mixture;   (g) as a result of step (e), forcing molecules of the solvent into and out of the particles of the viscosifier powder to liberate and hydrate viscosifier molecules of the viscosifier; and   (h) directing the hydrated viscosifier out of the controlled cavitation reactor.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising subjecting the hydrated viscosifier to a batch mixing process following step (h). 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the powdered viscosifier comprises dehydrated polymer chains. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the solvent comprises water. 
     
     
         16 . A method comprising the steps of mixing a powdered viscosifier with a solvent to form a mixture, mechanically inducing cavitation events within the mixture to cause shock waves and pressure variations to propagate through the mixture; separating particles of the powdered viscosifier from each other and distributing the particles throughout the mixture as a result of the shock waves and pressure variations, forcing molecules of the solvent into and out of the separated particles of powdered viscosifier as a result of the pressure variations to liberate viscosifier molecules from the particles, and allowing the viscosifier molecules to interact with the solvent molecules to hydrate the viscosifier. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the powdered viscosifier comprises dehydrated polymer chains. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein the solvent comprises H 2 O molecules.