An Overview of Natural Surfactant Application for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract

Surfactant flooding is an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method that recovers residual and capillary trapped oil by improving pore scale displacement efficiency. Due to toxicity and high cost of conventional surfactant, recent trend involves the use of natural surfactant for EOR. Natural surfactants are benign and biodegradable as they are derived from plant leaves and oil extracts. Herein, a synopsis of recent trend in the incorporation of newly devised natural surfactant for EOR was reviewed. Experimental results show that the surfactants exhibited sterling properties desired for EOR such as lower adsorption, interfacial tension (IFT) reduction, stable emulsion, and wettability alteration of sandstone and carbonate rocks. Overall, natural surfactants are suitable replacement for conventional surfactant. Nonetheless, an accurate modeling and pilot scale studies of natural surfactants remain obscure in literature.

Impact of Mutual Solvents on Wettability Alteration for EOR Application by Hybrid Smart Water and Green SiO2/KCl/Xanthan Nanocomposites in Carbonate Reservoirs

“…Wettability is an important parameter that improves oil recovery, which affects the capillary number and the mobility ratio and determines the recovery potential. , When the wettability shifts toward the water-wetting conditions, the capillary adhesive force decreases and the oil flows. The type of injected fluid and the porous medium affect the wettability change . To measure the wettability alteration, the contact angle method is used. , Drop shape analysis is a method that has recently been developed to measure contact angles and is a common analysis in EOR studies .…”

“…The sessile drop technique was used to assess the contact angle between crude oil and formation water (at several salinity ranges) with different concentrations of solvent and NC on the surface of the carbonate rocks (Figure ). According to the definition of Deng et al, the contact angles of 0–70, 70–110, and 110–180° indicate water wetting, intermediate wetting, and oil wetting conditions, respectively …”

“…The type of injected fluid and the porous medium affect the wettability change. 66 To measure the wettability alteration, the contact angle method is used. 2,41 Drop shape analysis is a method that has recently been developed to measure contact angles and is a common analysis in EOR studies.…”

“…According to the definition of Deng et al, 67 the contact angles of 0− 70, 70−110, and 110−180°indicate water wetting, intermediate wetting, and oil wetting conditions, respectively. 66 The steps for measuring the contact angle are as follows: First, toluene was used to prepare and clean carbonate core plugs using the Soxhlet extraction method at 80 °C for 24 h. After the initial cleaning procedure, carbonate rocks were cut and completely smoothed and polished. Then, these sections were washed with distilled water and toluene to remove any surface contaminants or dust that remained after the cutting process and thereafter placed in the oven at 60 °C for 24 h, thus eliminating the moisture generated during the cutting of the core.…”

Oil Recovery Performance by Surfactant Flooding: A Perspective on Multiscale Evaluation Methods

“…Surfactants can also be extracted from natural oils such as palm oil, castor oil, and jatropha, and these surfactants have shown great potential in lowering the oil–water IFT and altering the rock wettability toward more water-wet conditions . A critical review on the application of natural surfactants in the oil recovery process was reported by Bachari et al Gbadamosi et al provided an overview of natural surfactants and their applications for EOR purposes. Other classes of surfactants are briefly described by Kamal et al including viscoelastic surfactants, , polymeric surfactants, − and Gemini (dimeric) surfactants.…”