Characterizations of surfactant synthesized from Jatropha oil and its application in enhanced oil recovery

Abstract

Surfactants are frequently used in chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as it reduces the interfacial tension (IFT) to an ultra‐low value and also alter the wettability of oil‐wet rock, which are important mechanisms for EOR. However, most of the commercial surfactants used in chemical EOR are very expensive. In view of that an attempt has been made to synthesis an anionic surfactant from non‐edible Jatropha oil for its application in EOR. Synthesized surfactant was characterized by FTIR, NMR, dynamic light scattering, thermogravimeter analyser, FESEM, and EDX analysis. Thermal degradability study of the surfactant shows no significant loss till the conventional reservoir temperature. The ability of the surfactant for its use in chemical EOR has been tested by measuring its physicochemical properties, viz., reduction of surface tension, IFT and wettability alteration. The surfactant solution shows a surface tension value of 31.6 mN/m at its critical micelle concentration (CMC). An ultra‐low IFT of 0.0917 mN/m is obtained at CMC of surfactant solution, which is further reduced to 0.00108 mN/m at optimum salinity. The synthesized surfactant alters the oil‐wet quartz surface to water‐wet which favors enhanced recovery of oil. Flooding experiments were conducted with surfactant slugs with different concentrations. Encouraging results with additional recovery more than 25% of original oil in place above the conventional water flooding have been observed. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 2731–2741, 2017

Adsorption characteristics and kinetics of synthesized anionic surfactant and polymeric surfactant on sand surface for application in enhanced oil recovery

“…Synthesized anionic surfactant, polymeric surfactant, and sodium chloride (NaCl, 99% purity) were used in this study. The synthesis of surfactant and polymeric surfactant has been discussed elsewhere . The structure of synthesized surfactant and polymeric surfactant is shown in Figure a,b, respectively.…”

“…Reaction scheme of (a) synthesized anionic surfactant and (b) synthesized anionic polymeric surfactant…”

“…Several experiments have been carried out to study adsorption of different surfactants on reservoir rock . Surfactants synthesized from natural resources are relatively cheap, eco‐friendly, and easily available and has been recognized to be effective for EOR . The adsorption behaviour of such surfactant along with kinetic models have been reported in literature for silica surface, carbonate rock, and quartz systems.…”

Experimental study of the performances of commercial surfactants in reducing interfacial tension and wettability alteration in the process of chemical water injection into carbonate reservoirs

“…Using this surfactant, they reported an ultra-low interfacial tension of 0.0917 mN/m at a concentration of CMC and 0.00108 mN/m in the presence of optimal salinity. In addition, the synthesized surfactant has the ability to alter the wettability of the quartz surface from oleophilic to hydrophilic (Kumar et al 2017). Pal et al synthesized a series of Gemini surfactants.…”

Effects of Rheological Behavior of Viscoelastic Surfactants on Formation Damage in Carbonate Rocks

“…In EOR, surfactants are injected to reduce the interfacial tension (IFT) between water and oil (Azad et al, ; Jamaloei and Kharrat, ; Kamal et al, ; Kamal et al, ; Kamal et al, ; Kumar et al, ; Pal et al, ; Zhao et al, ). Water‐soluble polymers are injected to improve the water/oil mobility ratio by increasing the viscosity of the displacing fluid (Kamal et al, ; Pal et al, ).…”