Adsorption study of non-ionic ethoxylated nonylphenol surfactant for sandstone reservoirs: Batch and continuous flow systems

Increasing Recovery Factor in Heavy Oil Fields Using Alternating Steam and Surfactant Injection

“…The phenomenon presented in Figure , using solutions of surfactants NP-10EO and NP-100EO at the beginning of the oil removal process, presents different results, indicating distinct influences for each surfactant. When comparing the two surfactants, it can be noted that NP-10EO should present a high recovery factor, as it has a greater adsorption power at the oil–rock interface, an important factor for displacing the oil adsorbed in the rock pore and increasing production. However, it is impossible to justify the lower recovery values for NP-10EO due to its ability to form oil-in-water emulsion, on account of its low BHL value.…”

“…Before performing the flow test in a porous medium using the Core Flooding System, it was necessary to saturate the plugs with saline solution (2% KCl) in an automatic vacuum saturator to simulate reservoir conditions. The authors chose to simulate a brine coming from injection water to substantiate and control the type of ion and its concentration according to examples from the literature. − After saturation, the plugs were taken to the analytical balance to be weighed. Through a mass balance, the amount of water present inside the plug ( V wi ) was determined.…”

“…The injected value of each bank was 1.5 PV. Previously, two types of nonylphenol surfactants, with 10 and 100 ethoxylated bonds (NP-10EO and NP-100EO), were selected based on adsorption tests, where they presented the results of higher and lower adsorption capacity, respectively, according to the study carried out by our research group in a previous work . The selection of these surfactants allowed the understanding of the behavior regarding the degree of ethoxylation and allowed the evaluation of their performance regarding the affinity to the oil.…”