Nonionic Surfactant for Enhanced Oil Recovery from Carbonates: Adsorption Kinetics and Equilibrium

Abstract

Around 40% of the current world conventional oil production comes from carbonate reservoirs, dominantly mature and declining giant oilfields. Tertiary oil production methods as part of an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) scheme are inevitable after primary and secondary oil production. The goal of surfactant flooding is to reduce the mobility ratio by lowering the interfacial tension between oil and water and mobilizing the residual oil. This paper highlights adsorption kinetics and equilibrium of Glycyrrhiza Glabra, a novel surfactant, in aqueous solutions for EOR and reservoir stimulation purposes. A conductivity technique was used to assess adsorption of the surfactant in the aqueous phase. Batch experimental runs were also performed at various temperatures to understand the effect of adsorbate dose on the sorption efficiency. The adsorption kinetics was experimentally investigated at room temperature (27 °C) by monitoring the uptake of the Glycyrrhiza Glabra as a function of time. The adsorption data were examined using different adsorption equilibrium and kinetic models. The Langmuir isotherm suits the equilibrium data very well. A pseudo-second order kinetic model can satisfactorily estimate the kinetics of the surfactant adsorption on carbonates. Results obtained from this research can help in selecting appropriate surfactants for design of EOR schemes and reservoir stimulation plans for carbonate reservoirs.

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

“…8. It should be noted that IFT data for alkyl poly glycosides, alkyl sulfates 41) and Zizyphus Spina-Christi extract 20) were determined by the pendant-drop method against kerosene oil, while in the case of Sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate and Sodium laureth sulfate, IFTs obtained by ring tensiometer against Saltrol 130 42) . This figure shows that IFT decreases with increasing surfactant concentration and minimum values of IFT are obtained (IFT 5.5, 8.5, 9, 14.5, 17.5 mN/m, for Sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate, Sodium laureth sulfate, Zizyphus Spina-Christi extract, alkyl poly glycosides, and alkyl sulfates, respectively).…”

Investigating Effect of SiO2 Nanoparticle and Sodium-Dodecyl-Sulfate Surfactant on Surface Properties: Wettability Alteration and IFT Reduction

“…Surfactants usually have a considerable effect on IFT and wettability [3,4]. At first, Marathon Oil Company in the early 1960s presented the application of surfactants [5]. In this method, the surfactant would reduce the surface tension between water and oil phases; consequently, the capillary pressure would be reduced, and water could push the extra amount of oil [6,7].…”

Rheological characterization of crude oil-water emulsions

“…Several mixes of three types of surfactants were used for this purpose: an alkyl sulfonate [5], a long chain surface-active compound and also a non-ionic surfactant [6]. The suitable ratio of surfactants can promote the emulsion formation and throttle down the inevitable settlement [7].…”