Interfacial Interaction of Cationic Surfactants and Its Effect on Wettability Alteration of Oil-Wet Carbonate Rock

Abstract

Oil recovery by water flooding from carbonate reservoirs is considered ineffective because of the capillary forces in naturally fractured oil-wet carbonate formations. Surfactant solutions are often recommended to enhance the oil recovery by both wettability alteration and reduction of interfacial tension (IFT). In this study, the effects of cationic surfactants from the trimethylammonium bromide (C n TAB) family, viz., C10TAB (BTAB), C15TAB (DTAB), C16TAB (TBAB), and C19TAB (CTAB), on the surface tension, IFT, and wettability alteration of a carbonate rock along with adsorption of the surfactant on the carbonate rock were investigated. Different analyses, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), were conducted to study the mechanism for wettability alteration of the oil-wet carbonate surface. Results demonstrated that, among the four surfactants used, C15TAB and C19TAB presented a better effect on reduction of the surface tension, IFT between oil and water, and wettability alteration of the oil-wet carbonate rock surface. Adsorption of surfactants on the carbonate rock was studied, and the results were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich models. A comparative study of FTIR analysis of crude oil and rock in the presence of different surfactants was performed to investigate the interactions between different phases.

Novel application of PEG/SDS interaction as a wettability modifier of hydrophobic carbonate surfaces

“…For instance, the surface tension in the solution of 0.1 CMC of SDS was 66.0 mN/m and by adding 900 mg/L of PEG-20,000, it decreased to 53.2 mN/m, while the surface tension decreased to the value of 50.3 and 30.3 mN/m by adding 0.01 and 0.1 mol/L NaCl, respectively. Due to the counterion effects, electrolytes can force more surfactant molecules to diffuse from the bulk solution to the surface resulting in surface tension reduction (Kumar et al 2016;Umlong and Ismail 2007).…”

“…For this purpose, chemicals such as surfactants have been widely considered before (Babadagli and Boluk 2005;Golabi et al 2012;Hirasaki and Zhang 2004;Jarrahian et al 2012;Kumar et al 2016;Salehi 2009;Austad 2000, 2003). Surfactant molecules contain at least one hydrophilic and one hydrophobic group; therefore, they can lower the interfacial tensions and alter wetting properties.…”

“…Among nonionic, cationic and anionic surfactants, the ability of modifying the wetting properties to more water-wet decreases in the order: cationic [ non-ionic [ anionic (Jarrahian et al 2012;Standnes and Austad 2000). The cationic monomers interact with negatively charged adsorbed materials, mostly carboxylic groups, by electrostatic forces and desorb them from the rock surface by forming an ion pair (Gupta and Mohanty 2008;Jarrahian et al 2012;Kumar et al 2016;Salehi 2009;Standnes and Austad 2000). Pillai et al (2018) investigated the ability of a series of synthetized ionic liquids to alter the wettability of an oil-wet quartz surface.…”

CO2 Miscible Flooding for Enhanced Oil Recovery

“…For some oils, alkaline may convert some naphthenic acids within the oil to surfactants that increase oil recovery. The alkaline may also play a beneficial role in reducing surfactant retention in the rock [31][32][33][34].…”

Synthesis of Sulfobetaine‐Type Zwitterionic Gemini Surfactants (EAPMAC) and Their Oilfield Application Properties

“…Chemical flooding is a special enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method used after conventional water flooding. It is used to reduce the interfacial tension (IFT), increase flow control, and improve the efficiency of oil recovery (Kumar et al, ; Kumar and Mandal, ; Rai et al, ).…”