Typhonix has, together with TOTAL, developed a new Valve for polymer injection applications. This new valve design reduces mechanical shear and thereby degradation of  the polymer solution. Polyacrylamide molecules are very long flexible chain molecules that are broken when submitted to high shear rates. This causes an irreversible loss of viscosity of the solution, which has to be compensated by increasing the amount of polymers used. Mechanical degradation of polymers is a well known technical challenge in the petroleum industry. With the development of a low shear alternatives to conventional  the goal is to significantly reduce degradation of polymers. Typhonix and TOTAL have worked on solutions for this purpose since 2013 and the next phase of the development will be design and testing of a prototype valve by the end of 2017.