Giant surfactant-stabilized N₂-foam for enhanced oil recovery after water flooding

Abstract

A giant surfactant with high surface activity and strong viscosifying ability was prepared through a facile one-pot procedure for foam stabilization in EOR projects.

Synergistic Effects between Anionic and Sulfobetaine Surfactants for Stabilization of Foams Tolerant to Crude Oil in Foam Flooding

“…Foam Performances of the Typical Anionic Surfactants in Absence and Presence of Oil It is well known that commercial anionic surfactants such as AOS, SDS, and AES are good foaming agents (Rosen and Kunjappu, 2012), which are extensively used in daily consumer products such as dishwashing detergents, toothpaste, body wash, and shampoo where stable foams are expected. Among these typical anionic surfactants, AOS has been extensively studied for its foaming performances in foam flooding due to its excellent tolerance to high salinity and high temperature (Bai et al, 2019;Hosseini-Nasab and Zitha, 2017;Hurtado et al, 2018;Jian et al, 2015;Pu et al, 2019;Zhu et al, 2004). For Daqing Oil Field, China, however, AES and SDS are also good candidates as foaming agents due to relatively low reservoir temperature (45 C) and low connate water salinity (6778 mg L −1 ), especially low concentration of calcium (23 mg L −1 ) and magnesium (31.3 mg L −1 ) ions (Table S1).…”

“…However, the success of foam flooding depends strongly on foam stability (Amirmoshiri et al, 2018; Jian et al, 2015; Wang et al, 2019; Yang et al, 2017; Yekeen et al, 2017), which is correlated with the liquid drainage in lamellae, surface dilatational elasticity, and strength of the surfactant films (lamellae) (Wang et al, 2009), whereas the foam stability in porous medium is affected by several factors, including temperature, pressure, surfactants used, the presence of oils, electrolytes, polymers, and solid particulate materials (Chen et al, 2018; Hurtado et al, 2018). Many improved foaming systems for foam flooding have been reported in which the protocols for increasing foam stability include addition of nanoparticles (Bashir et al, 2019; Hurtado et al, 2018; Lu et al, 2017; Manan et al, 2015; Rezvani et al, 2020; Risal et al, 2018; Xu et al, 2020; Yang et al, 2017; Yekeen et al, 2017; Zhou et al, 2018), polymers (Bai et al, 2019; Jian et al, 2015; Sun et al, 2015a; Zhu et al, 2004), and alcohols (Chen and Zhao, 2015) and use of mixed surfactants (Hosseini‐Nasab and Zitha, 2017; Wang et al, 2016), branched surfactants (Wang et al, 2009), and fluorine‐containing surfactants (Jian et al, 2015; Wang et al, 2016) etc .…”

“…Among the factors to damage foam stability, the presence of oils is usually detrimental (Amirmoshiri et al, 2018; Chen et al, 2018; Hussain et al, 2019; Pu et al, 2019), which usually behave as excellent defoamers, although positive role of the oils to foam stability has also been reported when they are trapped in foam lamellae as emulsified oil droplets (Pu et al, 2019). As for the relationship between foam stability and oil displacement efficiency, some studies concluded that foam stability was not a necessary requirement in EOR (Pu et al, 2019) and no correlation between bulk foam stability and displacement efficiency was observed (Amirmoshiri et al, 2018), but more studies insisted that foams with high stability are in favor of enhancing oil recovery (Bai et al, 2019; Bashir et al, 2019; Chen and Zhao, 2015; Hosseini‐Nasab and Zitha, 2017; Hurtado et al, 2018; Jian et al, 2015; Lu et al, 2017; Manan et al, 2015; Pu et al, 2019; Rezvani et al, 2020; Risal et al, 2018; Sun et al, 2015; Wang et al, 2009, 2016; Xu et al, 2020; Zhang et al, 2019; Zhou et al, 2018; Zhu et al, 2004).…”

“…It is well known that many commercial surfactants especially anionic surfactants such as α‐olefin sulfonates (AOS), fatty alcohol sulfates, and fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether sulfate (AES) are good foaming agents (Rosen and Kunjappu, 2012), which are extensively used in daily chemicals such as dishwashing detergents, shampoos, and cosmetics, but the foams they produced are not tolerant to oils and cannot be solely used in foam flooding (Bai et al, 2019; Hurtado et al, 2018; Pu et al, 2019; Zhu et al, 2004). In this study, we report that the foam stability of the typical anionic surfactants in contact with crude oils can be greatly improved by mixing the anionic surfactants with sulfobetaine surfactants, and the relative mechanism can be accounted for by the synergistic effects (Rosen, 1986; Rosen and Hua, 1982) between the anionic surfactant and sulfobetaine surfactants.…”

Synthesis, characterization, and self-assembly of a POSS-based Janus molecular particle

“…巨型分子兼有 类似嵌段聚合物的本体相分离行为和类似表面活性剂 的溶液组装行为, 同时还表现出丰富的液晶态中间相 行为, 在亚10 nm图案化 [3,4] 、大分子动力学 [5,6] 、单分 子膜 [7] 、生物大分子偶联改性 [8] 、非传统相态(如Frank-Kasper相)的发现 [9,10] 等方面表现出独特的价值和应用 前景. 随着巨型分子的发展, 它们的功能性也备受关 注, 在光电材料 [11~13] 、氟离子监测 [14] 、油水分离 [15] 、 矿物筛选 [16] 等领域都有相关报道, 取得了不少进展.…”