High-Performance Polymeric Surfactant of Sodium Lignosulfonate-Polyethylene Glycol 4000 (SLS-PEG) for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Process

Abstract

Recently, the increase in fuel oil demand was not supported by petroleum production due to the low productivity of old wells. Furthermore, an appropriate technology, such as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technology, is needed to maximize the productivity of the old well. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to synthesize a polymeric surfactant for the EOR process from sodium lignosulfonate (SLS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) in various SLS to PEG ratios, namely 1:1 (PS1), 1:0.8 (PS2), and 1:0.5 (PS3). The surfactants were characterized using several methods, such as Fourier Transform-Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), compatibility, stability, viscosity, and phase behavior tests. The performance of the surfactants for the EOR process in different brine solution concentrations (16,000 ppm and 20,000 ppm) was also studied. The result showed that the introduction of the PEG molecule to the surfactant had been successfully conducted as FT-IR analysis confirmed. The surfactant's hydrophilicity increased with the introduction of PEG due to the increase of the ether group. A Winsor Type I or lower phase microemulsion was formed due to the high hydrophilicity. The highest oil yield (79 %) was obtained by PS1 surfactant, which has the highest PEG dosage, in a brine solution of 1,600 ppm. Therefore, it was concluded that the introduction of PEG could increase the hydrophilicity, viscosity, and EOR performance.

Synthesis and performance evaluation of polymeric surfactant from rice husk and polyethylene glycol for the enhanced oil recovery process

“…The obtained SLS surfactant was then used to synthesize SLS-PEG polymeric surfactants. The SLS-PEG polymeric surfactants were synthesized using the SLS surfactant, PEG and ammonium persulfate, following the method by Priyanto et al [3]. The SLS to PEG ratios were 1:0.5, 1:0.8, and 1:1.…”

“…This test requires rock, brine solution, oil, and 0.1%wt polymeric surfactant. This study uses Kawengan oil, a heavy crude oil with a density of 0.96 g/cm 3 , as the oil for the EOR process. The brine solution was in a concentration of 5000 ppm.…”

“…These methods cannot be applied to the same reservoir because of the different processes and the different characteristics of the extracted oil. However, due to the low-cost process, one of the most developed EOR processes is the chemical injection or CEOR [2,3]. The injected chemical is a surfactant which can reduce the interfacial tension (IFT).…”

“…SLS molecule has the hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts, which are associated with the aromatic skeleton and sulfonate group, respectively [6]. Pramudono and co-workers [3,[7][8][9] have intensively developed SLS surfactants for the EOR process from biomassbased lignin. Priyanto et al [9] synthesized SLS from black liquor for the EOR process.…”

“…Previously, Priyanto et al [10] have also studied the hydrodynamic of the EOR process using the SLS surfactant from black liquor. Even though the SLS surfactant has a high performance to reduce the IFT value of oil-water, some disadvantages, such as intolerance to a high brine solution, easy adsorbance by the stone during the EOR process, and high sensitivity to divalent ions, make SLS less appropriate for the EOR process [3,11]. Therefore, some modifications should be done to improve the characteristics and performance of the SLS surfactant.…”