1. Water Treatment
Wastewater Treatment: Acts as a high-efficiency flocculant for urban sewage, industrial wastewater (e.g., papermaking, mining), and agricultural wastewater purification. It accelerates the sedimentation of suspended particles through bridging effects, significantly reducing turbidity.
Sludge Dewatering: Cationic PAM (CPAM) neutralizes sludge colloid charges, reduces moisture content, and improves dewatering efficiency.
2. Petroleum Extraction
Oil Displacement Agent: In enhanced oil recovery (EOR), it increases aqueous phase viscosity, optimizes oil-water mobility ratios, and boosts crude oil recovery rates.
Drilling Fluid Additive: Stabilizes rheological properties of drilling fluids, prevents drill cuttings deposition, and enhances extraction efficiency.
Fracturing and Cementing Fluids: Serves as a thickener and friction reducer to optimize fracturing effects and reduce fluid resistance.
3. Textile and Dyeing
Sizing and Auxiliaries: Enhances yarn strength as a textile sizing agent or acts as a catalyst/dye fixative in dyeing to improve fabric abrasion resistance and color stability.
4. Paper Industry
Paper Strengthening Agent: Boosts fiber bonding, reduces paper breakage rates, and optimizes physical properties.
Wastewater Treatment: Anionic PAM (APAM) treats positively charged particles in papermaking wastewater.
5. Mining and Metallurgy
Solid-Liquid Separation: Accelerates mineral particle flocculation in flotation and precipitation processes to improve separation efficiency.
Slurry Concentration: Functions as a filter aid to reduce slurry moisture content.
6. Agriculture and Environmental Protection
Soil Improvement: Enhances soil structure and water retention as a soil conditioner to promote crop growth.
Industrial Friction Reduction: Trace amounts of PAM reduce fluid resistance in pipelines by 50–80%, applied in irrigation or industrial water systems.
7. Other Industrial Applications
Thickening and Adhesion: Used as a thickener in adhesives, coatings, or material bonding.
Pharmaceuticals: Serves as a drug release carrier or biomaterial.
Application Distribution (Global)
Industry statistics indicate the following usage shares for PAM:
37% Wastewater Treatment
27% Petroleum Industry
18% Paper Industry
18% Textiles, Mining, Agriculture, etc.