New Surfactant Extracted from <i>Zizyphus Spina-Christi</i> for Enhanced Oil Recovery: Experimental Determination of Static Adsorption Isotherm

Abstract

A fundamental chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process is surfactant flooding in which the key mechanism is to reduce interfacial tension between oil and the displacing fluid and hence mobilizing the trapped oil. Surfactant loss by adsorption is one of the most important criteria that governs the economics of the surfactant flooding methods. In addition to this, detrimental effects and high price of currently used surfactants cause EOR process so expensive and unfeasible. This study is aimed to introduce a novel kind of plant based surfactant which is extracted from Zizyphus Spina-Christi tree. In addition, equilibrium adsorption behavior of this novel biosurfactant in aqueous solution on crushed reservoir rocks is presented. A conductivity technique was used to assess the critical micelle concentration (CMC) value in the aqueous phase. Batch experiments were used to understand the effect of adsorbent dose on sorption efficiency as well. Four adsorption models were also employed to make a quantitative description of equilibrium adsorption behavior of surfactant solution. For evaluating the ability of this novel biosurfactant on the surface properties, IFT values of Saponin solution were compared to those of commonly used chemical surfactants in petroleum industry. It is shown that availability and the low cost of the Zizyphus Spina-Christi extract in comparison to common chemical surfactants in petroleum industry make it economically viable for surfactant flooding.

Impact of Surfactant Type on Adsorption Process and Oil Recovery: Implementation of New Surfactant Produced from <i>Zizyphus Spina-Christi</i> Extract

“…High adsorption of saponin nonionic surfactant at high concentrations is useful in the cases in which it is favorable to alter the wettability 57) . It must be mentioned that the adsorption values obtained were consistent with previous works 58) . It is a proven fact that the amount of surfactant adsorption is a function of surface area.…”

Effect of Polymer Adsorption on Permeability Reduction in Enhanced Oil Recovery

“…Actually dynamic condition is an appropriate field relevant condition. It is important to mention that the ratio of adsorbent to adsorbate also varies for different studies [18,19]. In the present study, as flooding experiment was conducted on sand packed, the ratio was taken in this pattern.…”

Evaluation of the Foamability Potential of a Novel Biosurfactant Using the Solution to Advective-Diffusive Transport Model in Porous Media With a Linear Adsorption Trend

“…In this regard, Memon et al, (2017), studied a new natural surfactant found in oil deposits in Iran. The following data can be extracted from their published work: Mohsen et al, (2013) also studied Zyziphus Spina Christi obtained from a biological source by hydro distillation of wild leaves. They conducted a static adsorption test based on an outcrop of sandstone samples.…”

“…The petroleum industry is used to using conventional surfactant for tertiary oil recovery projects (Schramm L., 2009). However, recent studies have evaluated the potential of a biosurfactant, Ziziphus Christis, which is also found in oil reservoir for enhance oil recovery projects (Safian-Boldaji et al, 2013). The motivation for these studies stems from the fact that these surfactants are naturally available and can be extracted for commercial purposes.…”