Investigation of Interfacial Tension Reduction, Wettability Alteration, and Oil Recovery Using a New Non‐ionic Oil‐Based Surfactant from Gemini Surfactants Family Coupled with Low‐Salinity Water: Experimental Study on Oil‐Wet Carbonate Rock

Abstract

Low‐salinity surfactant (LSS) flooding is a combined enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique that increases oil recovery (OR) by altering the rock surface wettability and reducing oil–water interfacial tension (IFT). In this study, optimum concentrations of several types of salt in distilled water were obtained on the basis of IFT experiments for the preparation of low‐salinity water (LSW). Then, a new oil‐based natural surfactant (Gemini surfactant, GS) was combined with LSW to investigate their effects on IFT, wettability, and OR. Experimental results showed that LSW is capable of reducing IFT and contact angle, but the synergy of GS and the active ions Mg2+, Ca2+, and SO42− in LSW was more effective on IFT reduction and wettability alteration. The combination of 1000 ppm MgSO4 and 3000 ppm GS led to a decrease in contact angle from 134.82° to 36.98° (oil‐wet to water‐wet). Based on core flooding tests, LSW injection can increase OR up to 71.46% (for LSW with 1000 ppm MgSO4), while the combination of GS and LSW, as LSS flooding, can improve OR up to 84.23% (for LSS with 1000 ppm MgSO4 and 3000 ppm GS). Therefore GS has great potential to be used as a surfactant for EOR.

Mechanistic Investigation of LSW/Surfactant/Alkali Synergism for Enhanced Oil Recovery: Fluid–Fluid Interactions

“…Therefore, the optimum concentration of dFB is 1000 ppm for this type of crude oil and FB system as pointed with red color in Figure 2. Dabiri and Honarvar 48 investigated the optimal concentration of surfactant for IFT reduction during LSW flooding. They used the same crude oil as in the present study and concluded that the optimum salinity for diluted FB is 1000 ppm, which serves to confirm that the methodology used here yields similar results to previous studies.…”

Review on Potential Application of Saponin-Based Natural Surfactants for Green Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery: Perspectives and Progresses

“…Significant surfactant retention and loss reduce the effectiveness of SBNS flooding and increase operating costs. 108,173,174 Recent studies of SBNS applications in CEOR revolve around investigating the a d s o r p t i o n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f s u r f a ctants. 66,94,108,133,134,143,145,175 The research findings are essential for the proper and successful design of SBNS solutions to achieve EOR targets.…”

“…Large amounts of surfactants are needed at their CMC for field EOR applications, but these surfactants can be lost because of their adsorption onto rock surfaces. Significant surfactant retention and loss reduce the effectiveness of SBNS flooding and increase operating costs. ,, Recent studies of SBNS applications in CEOR revolve around investigating the adsorption characteristics of surfactants. ,,,,,,, The research findings are essential for the proper and successful design of SBNS solutions to achieve EOR targets. The adsorption behavior of SBNSs depends on rock morphology/mineralogy, ionic strength, pH, salinity, temperature, and the source of saponin.…”

Microemulsions Based on Diverse Surfactant Molecular Structure: Comparative Analysis and Mechanistic Study

“…Through the study of microemulsion phase behavior, it was found that when the surfactant concentration was 1.5 wt%, the relative volume of the microemulsion phase could reach up to 31%. Regarding the performance of Gemini surfactants in enhancing oil recovery, Dabiri et al [56] studied a naturally derived oil-based Gemini surfactant. When the surfactant concentration was 0.3 wt%, MgSO 4 was 0.1 wt%, and the core permeability was around 10 mD, using a 1 PV surfactant solution could increase the recovery rate by about 40% compared to formation water flooding.…”