What are Swellable Elastomers?

A "swellable elastomer" is an elastic material that swells when placed in certain fluids. Swelling is due to the absorption of the appropriate fluid, resulting in a volume increase. Swellable elastomers can be vulcanised as gaskets directly on to the steel pipe.

There are two main types of swellable elastomers:

• Swelling in oil (Solvent swelling).
• Swelling in water (Osmotic swelling).

Oil companies want to produce oil and stop water, so swelling in produced water has been the prime target for product development. Lately, SWELLFIX has added oil-swellable elastomers to its portfolio to cover those cases where water swelling is insufficient.

The fundamental characteristics of swellable elastomers are as follows:

1. While swelling, the elastomer extracts swelling fluid (water / oil) from its environment. That means there has to be a source of free fluid if the elastomer swell from it’s original state.
2. Oil-swellable elastomers swell faster and further with higher temperature and in lighter oil. Water Swelling elastomers swell faster and further with higher temperatures and lower salinity.
3. In a mixture of oil and water, the oil swelling elastomer will only discern the oil and will swell as if it was only submersed in oil. Conversely, the water swelling elastomer will only discern the water and swell accordingly. Different rules apply for emulsions.
4. Solvent swelling with gas as the swelling medium is relatively small.
5. In gas wells swelling is achieved through the condensate or water carried along with the gas, rather than the gas itself.

 

Why Swellable Elastomers?

SWELLFIX's extensive product offerings include both water- and oil-activated swellable elastomers.When these elastomers come into contact with the appropriate liquid, they swell to seal the available space.

The SWELLFIX solution is ideal for simple and effective zonal isolation and other cost-effective swellable elastomer applications for the oil and gas industry.