Controlling the composition, phase volume, and viscosity of microemulsions with cosolvent

Tagavifar, Mohsen; Jang, Sung Hyun; Chang, Leonard; Mohanty, Kishore K.; Pope, Gary A.

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2017.09.056

Cited by 24 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…On the basis of the results in Figure and those in ref , the “static” (i.e., pipette) composition for the flow study is selected with α = 0.5, β = 0.0765, δ = 0.02, and 30 500 ppm NaCl salinity. At equilibrium, the mixture forms a bicontinuous microemulsion close to the invariant point of a pseudoternary diagram in the Type-III environment .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At equilibrium, the mixture forms a bicontinuous microemulsion close to the invariant point of a pseudoternary diagram in the Type-III environment. 32 As we showed previously, 32 the β/δ ratio controls the composition, volume, and viscosity of the bicontinuous microemulsion. Unlike in pipettes with a constant overall composition, the β/δ ratio and hence the microemulsion properties may vary under dynamic flow conditions.…”

Section: ■ Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mixture was selected based on an extensive phase behavior study reported elsewhere. 32 The flow rate and the mixture ratio were varied to investigate the mechanisms of microemulsion formation and the equilibrium and nonequilibrium multiphase flow. The multiphase flow was investigated in a micromodel that is a 2.5D representation of subsurface porous rocks with micrometer pores and throats.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To examine this relation, we studied the phase behavior and flow of a microemulsion-forming mixture of an aqueous surfactant solution and oil at the pore scale using a micromodel. The mixture was selected based on an extensive phase behavior study reported elsewhere . The flow rate and the mixture ratio were varied to investigate the mechanisms of microemulsion formation and the equilibrium and nonequilibrium multiphase flow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spontaneous and Flow-Driven Interfacial Phase Change: Dynamics of Microemulsion Formation at the Pore Scale

Tagavifar

Jang

et al. 2017

Langmuir

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The dynamic behavior of microemulsion-forming water-oil-amphiphiles mixtures is investigated in a 2.5D micromodel. The equilibrium phase behavior of such mixtures is well-understood in terms of macroscopic phase transitions. However, what is less understood and where experimental data are lacking is the coupling between the phase change and the bulk flow. Herein, we study the flow of an aqueous surfactant solution-oil mixture in porous media and analyze the dependence of phase formation and spatial phase configurations on the bulk flow rate. We find that a microemulsion forms instantaneously as a boundary layer at the initial surface of contact between the surfactant solution and oil. The boundary layer is temporally continuous because of the imposed convection. In addition to the imposed flow, we observe spontaneous pulsed Marangoni flows that drag the microemulsion and surfactant solution into the oil stream, forming large (macro)emulsion droplets. The formation of the microemulsion phase at the interface distinguishes the situation from that of the more common Marangoni flow with only two phases present. Additionally, an emulsion forms via liquid-liquid nucleation or the Ouzo effect (i.e., spontaneous emulsification) at low flow rates and via mechanical mixing at high flow rates. With regard to multiphase flow, contrary to the common belief that the microemulsion is the wetting liquid, we observe that the minor oil phase wets the solid surface. We show that a layered flow pattern is formed because of the out-of-equilibrium phase behavior at high volumetric flow rates (order of 2 m/day) where advection is much faster than the diffusive interfacial mass transfer and transverse mixing, which promote equilibrium behavior. At lower flow rates (order of 30 cm/day), however, the dynamic and equilibrium phase behaviors are well-correlated. These results clearly show that the phase change influences the macroscale flow behavior.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ■ Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spontaneous and Flow-Driven Interfacial Phase Change: Dynamics of Microemulsion Formation at the Pore Scale

Tagavifar

Jang

et al. 2017

Langmuir

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“…Reverse emulsions with the addition of surfactants are a promising type of compositions that allow to solve this problem. Today they are used in drilling [11,25] and oil fi eld practice [10,21,23,26], including to increase oil recovery in order to align the displacement front [5,9,13,60,57,38,43,54,55]. They are a thermodynamically unstable dispersion system, the dispersion medium of which is oil and the dispersed phase is water [24,30].…”

Section: Prerequisites For Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulation of filtration characteristics of highly watered terrigenous formations using complex chemical compositions based on surfactants

Korolev¹,

Рогачев²,

Tananykhin³

2020

J Appl Eng Science

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A signifi cant share of Russian oil fi elds has entered the fi nal stage of development and is characterized by a drop in production. It comes true due to the depletion of active oil reserves, and, as a consequence, an increase in the proportion of residual oil trapped in areas which are not covered by fl ooding, and physically or chemically associated with the formation of oil. An additional factor is the increase in the water content of complex-structured terrigenous reservoirs and their high number of permeable intervals. Development of the considered productive formations is carried out, as a rule, with maintenance of reservoir pressure by means of "cold" fl ooding. Despite the development and relatively low cost, it has its limitations/restrictions. The main reasons why we are not able to achieve complete displacement of oil by "cold" water are the difference between the viscosity of oil and the displacing agent, their immiscibility and hydrophobization of reservoir rocks [14]. All methods of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) used for highly watered oil fi elds with hard-to-recover reserves are aimed at additional recovery of residual oil and achieving the design oil recovery factor (ORF), by optimizing the fl ooding system and upgrading the fl ooding agents. The design ORF can be achieved by increasing the water fl ood displacement effi ciency, by improving the washing capacity of water (displacement agent), or by increasing the sweep effi ciency of the reservoir fl ooding.

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Rheology as a tool for identifying and characterizing optimal microemulsions formulations

Lemahieu,

Ontiveros,

Molinier

et al. 2024

J Surfact & Detergents

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This study investigates the use of rheology to detect phase inversion in surfactant–oil–water (SOW) systems, offering a rapid method for identifying “optimal formulations.” Phase inversion through temperature or salinity variation provides a faster alternative compared with equilibrium scans. Using well‐defined polyethoxylated surfactants (C8EO3, C10EO4, C12EO5), phase inversion was monitored through viscosity measurements at a constant shear rate, with temperature as formulation variable. Emulsion viscosity reaches a minimum at the phase inversion point, which corresponds to an ultra‐low interfacial tension condition. A strong correlation between the reported fish‐tail temperature (T*) and the phase inversion temperature (PIT) was observed. While identifying optimal conditions through a formulation scan in a series of test tubes is relatively quick, evaluating the surfactant system's ability to reduce interfacial tension can take several weeks due to the requirement of equilibrium. Formulation conditions at which minimal emulsion viscosity occurs are related to those where three‐phase systems are obtained, with the magnitude of interfacial tension inversely proportional to this value. An empirical approach linking the emulsion destabilization zone with the interfacial tensions is proposed. By measuring this interval, it is possible to roughly predict interfacial tension for model systems.

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Controlling the composition, phase volume, and viscosity of microemulsions with cosolvent

Cited by 24 publications

References 73 publications

Spontaneous and Flow-Driven Interfacial Phase Change: Dynamics of Microemulsion Formation at the Pore Scale

Spontaneous and Flow-Driven Interfacial Phase Change: Dynamics of Microemulsion Formation at the Pore Scale

Regulation of filtration characteristics of highly watered terrigenous formations using complex chemical compositions based on surfactants

Rheology as a tool for identifying and characterizing optimal microemulsions formulations

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