Baker Hughes, a Ge Compnay, LLC

Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations LLC

David J Jurek

Brandon M Vittur

Jian Zou

Anthony D Bravo

A drag reducing agent has a core comprising a polyolefin; and a temporary container encapsulating the core. The temporary container contains a container material, which includes an ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, an ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer, a polyvinylpyrrolidone, an ethylene vinylpyrrolidone copolymer, a vinylpyrrolidone vinyl acetate copolymer, a polyvinyl acetate, a polyvinyl alcohol, a polyethylene oxide, a polyethylene glycol, polyvinylidene chloride, a polysaccharide or its derivative, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing. A largest dimension of the drag reducing agent is greater than about 1,000 microns.

Drag reducing agents

A process of manufacturing a polyolefin drag reducing agent comprises: injecting a catalyst and a drag reducing agent forming component comprising (i) at least one olefin monomer, or (ii) at least one olefin oligomer, or a combination of (i) and (ii) into a temporary container comprising a container material, sealing the temporary container; allowing the drag reducing agent forming component to polymerize in the sealed temporary container to form the polyolefin drag reducing agent; and at least partially dissolving the container material. The container material includes an ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, an ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer, a polyvinylpyrrolidone, an ethylene vinylpyrrolidone copolymer, a vinylpyrrolidone vinyl acetate copolymer, a polyvinyl acetate, a polyvinyl alcohol, a polyethylene glycol, a polysaccharide or its derivative, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing, provided that when the container material comprises polyvinyl acetate or polyvinyl alcohol, the temporary container is coated or has two or more layers.

Growing community of inventors

Katy, TX, United States of America

David J Jurek