Development of High-Performance Surfactants for Difficult Oils

Zhao, Ping; Jackson, Adam; Britton, Chris; Kim, Do Hoon; Britton, Larry N.; Levitt, David; Pope, Gary A.

doi:10.2118/113432-ms

Cited by 93 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Because the sulfonate group is added at different points along the hydrocarbon chain during synthesis, internal olefin sulfonate (IOS) surfactants consist of species with different branching. Results of laboratory studies of IOS phase behavior at high temperatures have recently been presented (Barnes et al, 2008;Zhao et al, 2008). Hydrocarbon chain lengths ranged from C 15 -C 18 to C 24 -C 28 .…”

Section: Surfactant Requirements and Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Surfactant EOR

Hirasaki

Miller

Puerto

2008

SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition

209

172

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Recent advances in surfactant EOR are reviewed. The addition of alkali to surfactant flooding in the 1980s reduced the amount of surfactant required and the process became known as alkaline surfactant polymer flooding (ASP). It was recently found that the adsorption of anionic surfactants on calcite and dolomite can also be significantly reduced with sodium carbonate as the alkali, thus making the process applicable for carbonate formations. The same chemicals are also capable of altering the wettability of carbonate formations from strongly oil-wet to preferentially water-wet. This wettability alteration in combination with ultralow interfacial tension (IFT) makes it possible to displace oil from preferentially oil-wet carbonate matrix to fractures by oil-water gravity drainage.The alkaline surfactant process co-injects alkali and synthetic surfactant. The alkali generates soap in situ by reaction between the alkali and naphthenic acids in the crude oil. It was recently recognized that the local ratio of soap/surfactant determines the local optimal salinity for minimum IFT. Recognition of this dependence makes it possible to design a strategy to maximize oil recovery with the least amount of surfactant and inject polymer with the surfactant without phase separation. An additional benefit of the presence of the soap component is that it generates an oil-rich colloidal dispersion which produces ultra-low IFT over a much wider range of salinity than in its absence.It was once thought that a co-solvent such as alcohol was necessary to make a microemulsion without gel-like phases or a polymer-rich phase separating from the surfactant solution. An example of an alternative to the use of alcohol is to blend two dissimilar surfactants, a branched alkoxylated sulfate and a double-tailed, internal olefin sulfonate. The single phase region with NaCl or CaCl 2 is greater for the blend than for either surfactant alone. It is also possible to incorporate polymer into such aqueous surfactant solutions without phase separation under some conditions. The injected surfactant solution has under-optimum phase behavior with the crude oil. It becomes optimum only as it mixes with the in situ generated soap, which is generally more hydrophobic than the injected surfactant. However, some crude oils do not have a sufficiently high acid number for this approach to work.Foam can be used for mobility control by alternating slugs of gas with slugs of surfactant solution. Besides effective oil displacement in a homogeneous sandpack, it demonstrated greatly improved sweep in a layered sandpack. 2 [SPE 115386]

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Section: Surfactant Requirements and Structuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Surfactant EOR

Hirasaki

Miller

Puerto

2008

SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition

209

172

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…It was also found that high molecular weight internal olefin sulfonate (IOS) surfactants perform exceptionally well with the difficult oils in terms of providing efficient micro-emulsion compared to many other types of surfactants. In oil/brine/surfactant mixtures, IOS surfactants do not exhibit the tendency to form the liquid crystals, gels and ordered structures in spite of lacking branching (Barnes, Dirkzwager, Smit, & Smit, 2010;Zhao et al, 2008). Phase behaviour tests include the aqueous stability test, salinity scan and oil scan.…”

Section: Surfactant Phase Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Phase Behaviour Study and Foam Stability Analysis for Optimal Alkaline/Surfactant/Foam Enhanced Oil Recovery

Nasab¹,

Zitha²

2015

Proceedings

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SUMMARYAlkaline-Surfactant-Foam (ASF) flooding is a recently introduced enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method. This paper presents laboratory study of this ASF to better understand its mechanisms. The focus is on the interaction of ASF chemical agents with oil and in the presence and absence of naphthenic component and in-situ soap generation. The impact of alkali, IFT reduction, in-situ soap generation and oil acid number were systematically studied by measurement of phase behaviour, interfacial tension and foam stability. Phase behaviour results indicate the synergistic effect between the generated soap and synthetic surfactant, which gives wider range of optimal salinity in terms of IFT reduction. The novel alkali-surfactant formulation lowered IFT between oil and aqueous phase from nearly 30 mN/m to 10-1 -10-3 mN/m. This means that chemical formulation can create low tension foam flooding with higher capillary number than conventional foam for displacing oil from porous media. In the foam stability analysis of ASF agent in the presence and absence of oil, several characteristics such as foam volume evolution, foam half decay time, liquid fraction of foam were measured over a wide range of surfactant, alkali, electrolyte and naphthenic acid concentration. Bulk foam stability tests demonstrated that stability of foam diminishes in presence of oil with high in-situ soap generation. The obtained results for foam stability in the presence of oil were successfully interpreted in terms of phenomenological theory of entering/spreading/bridging coefficient, lamella number and pseudo-emulsion film. The discussed method in this paper can be successfully applied to formulate high performance chemical agents for achievement of improved foam flooding according to reservoir fluid condition, i.e. properties of crude oil and formation water.

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“…In the comment/remark column, we have summarized significant remarks, observations, or criticism pertaining to the specific reference or article. In short the following useful information could be obtained from Table 1: • Anionic surfactants were often employed in in situ prepared microemulsions techniques and often produce promising results (Glinsmann, 1979;Bae and Petrick, 1981;Gupta, 1982;Sanz and Pope, 1995;Austad and Taugbøl, 1995a;Austad and Taugbøl, 1995b;Taugbøl et al, 1995;Austad et al, 1997;Levitt et al, 2006;Bouabboune et al, 2006;Zhao et al, 2008). These surfactants could significantly reduce the IFT of the fluid system tested.…”

Section: In Situ Prepared Microemulsion Flooding Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The flooding was stable and effective even at high temperature and high salinity (Iglauer et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2010;Dwarakanath et al, 2008). • Many cosurfactant(s) have been used with various surfactants to assist the surfactant to immensely lower the IFT and increase the efficiency of oil displacement (Glinsmann, 1979;Bae and Petrick, 1981;Kraft and Pusch, 1982;Gupta, 1982;Bragg et al, 1982;Nelson, 1983;Levitt et al, 2006;Bouabboune et al, 2006;Zhao et al, 2008;Dwarakanath et al, 2008;Iglauer et al, 2009) First, the mobility of the micellar fluid was too high. Therefore, early sulfonate breakthrough was observed.…”

Section: In Situ Prepared Microemulsion Flooding Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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In Situ Prepared Microemulsion-polymer Flooding in Enhanced Oil Recovery—A Review

Jeirani

Jan

Ali

et al. 2013

Petroleum Science and Technology

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Microemulsion could be formed in situ through simultaneous injection of surfactant, cosurfactant, and brine into the reservoir. The formed microemulsion is expected to propagate toward the production well and along its way sweep significant amounts of the remaining hydrocarbon in the reservoir. There are numerous reports on in situ prepared microemulsion flooding in the literature. The interest in in situ prepared microemulsion flooding research activities is expected to increase tremendously in the near future because of its high potential in maximizing hydrocarbon recovery in enhanced oil recovery activities. The authors summarize major articles relevant to in situ prepared microemulsion flooding with application of various polymers in the flooding. They also discuss critically and extensively the effect and function of polymers and their role in the microemulsion flooding. This review opens new horizons for future research on in situ prepared microemulsion-polymer flooding in enhanced oil recovery processes by systematically organizing and comparing data in the literature. The data and information presented would be very useful to researchers conducting work related to enhanced oil recovery with microemulsion polymer flooding.

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Development of High-Performance Surfactants for Difficult Oils

Cited by 93 publications

References 35 publications

Recent Advances in Surfactant EOR

Recent Advances in Surfactant EOR

Systematic Phase Behaviour Study and Foam Stability Analysis for Optimal Alkaline/Surfactant/Foam Enhanced Oil Recovery

In Situ Prepared Microemulsion-polymer Flooding in Enhanced Oil Recovery—A Review

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