EOR Perspective of microemulsions: A review

Mahboob, Ahmad; Kalam, Shams; Kamal, Muhammad Shahzad; Hussain, Syed Muhammad Shakil; Sølling, Theis I.

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2021.109312

Cited by 47 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 197 publications

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“… 8 Moreover, the presence of surfactant can boost the formation of oil/water emulsion and improve interfacial rheological properties. 9 However, the fundamental issue during surfactant flooding is the loss of surfactant in the reservoir rock, which diminishes the surfactant flooding performance and its economic viability. 10 Reducing surfactant adsorption onto porous media is one of the most critical factors to evaluate the performance of surfactant flooding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Surfactant flooding is reviewed as the most efficient method due to its great ability to decrease the oil/water IFT from the high initial value (20–30 mN/m) to an ultralow value (10 –3 mN/m) and to alter the wettability of the reservoir rock toward the water-wet medium, which leads to a significant increase in oil recovery . Moreover, the presence of surfactant can boost the formation of oil/water emulsion and improve interfacial rheological properties . However, the fundamental issue during surfactant flooding is the loss of surfactant in the reservoir rock, which diminishes the surfactant flooding performance and its economic viability .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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SDS–Aluminum Oxide Nanofluid for Enhanced Oil Recovery: IFT, Adsorption, and Oil Displacement Efficiency

et al. 2022

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Surfactant flooding is one of the most promising chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) methods to produce residual oil in reservoirs. Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted extensive attention because of their significant characteristics and capabilities to improve oil recovery. The aim of this study is to scrutinize the synergistic effect of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as an anionic surfactant and aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) on the efficiency of surfactant flooding. Extensive series of interfacial tension and surfactant adsorption measurements were conducted at different concentrations of SDS and Al 2 O 3 NPs. Furthermore, different surfactant adsorption isotherm models were fitted to the experimental data, and constants for each model were calculated. Additionally, oil displacement tests were performed at 25 °C and atmospheric pressure to indicate the suitability of SDS–Al 2 O 3 for CEOR. Analysis of this study shows that the interfacial tension (IFT) reduction between aqueous phase and crude oil is enhanced considerably by 76%, and the adsorption density of SDS onto sandstone rock is decreased remarkably from 1.76 to 0.49 mg/g in the presence of these NPs. Although the effectiveness of NPs gradually increases with the increase of their concentration, there is an optimal value of Al 2 O 3 NP concentration. Moreover, oil recovery was increased from 48.96 to 64.14% by adding 0.3 wt % NPs to the surfactant solution, which demonstrates the competency of SDS–Al 2 O 3 nanofluids for CEOR.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SDS–Aluminum Oxide Nanofluid for Enhanced Oil Recovery: IFT, Adsorption, and Oil Displacement Efficiency

et al. 2022

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“…Some surfactants are found to form a microemulsion phase between oil and water. 5,6 The microemulsion phase helps mobility control and increases the microscale sweep efficiency significantly. Viscoelastic surfactants provide surprisingly high viscosity, thus helping mobility control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are also other mechanisms aside from IFT reduction that contribute to incremental oil recovery in surfactant flooding. , Wettability alteration (WA) that changes oil-wet rock toward water-wet conditions is another key mechanism. , When the rock is changed from oil-wet to water-wet, the capillary pressure is changed from negative to positive, thus helping the entry of water and the displacement of oil. Some surfactants are found to form a microemulsion phase between oil and water. , The microemulsion phase helps mobility control and increases the microscale sweep efficiency significantly. Viscoelastic surfactants provide surprisingly high viscosity, thus helping mobility control …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wettability Alteration on Carbonate Rock by the Mixture of the Gemini Surfactant and Chelating Agent

et al. 2022

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Gemini surfactants are novel surfactants that show unique properties, including low critical micelle concentrations, good water solubility, and outstanding performance in interfacial tension reduction. A previous study focusing on a group of locally synthesized cationic gemini surfactants found promising wettability alteration performance, which indicates the possible application in carbonate reservoirs that are naturally fractured and oil-wet. However, the tested surfactants seemed not to be efficient in high-salinity conditions. Chelating agents are used to reduce salinity by capturing the metal ions, helping maintain the performance of the selected enhanced oil recovery materials. In this study, wettability alteration by the locally synthesized ethoxylated quaternary ammonium gemini surfactant (GS8, with eight carbon atoms in the spacer group) alone and by the mixture between GS8 and a commonly used chelating agent [diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)] was assessed by contact angle measurements. Results show that GS8 can modify strongly oil-wet Indiana limestone to intermediate-wet when dissolved in deionized water. Adding salts impairs the ability of the surfactant in altering wettability. The negative effect decreases in the sequence: CaCl2 > Na2SO4 > NaCl ≈ NaHCO3 ≈ MgCl2. The addition of DTPA improved the ability of the surfactant to alter the wettability in the presence of salts. A mixture of DTPA and GS8 showed better performance compared to GS8 and DTPA alone. These results suggested that, for high-salinity reservoirs, adding a chelating agent in combination with a cationic gemini surfactant could improve the wettability alteration.

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“…In a Winsor III system, a bicontinuous microemulsion is in equilibrium with two excess phases: an upper excess organic phase and a lower excess aqueous phase. When used for EOR, several factors affect the behavior of microemulsions under reservoir conditions; they include but are not limited to the class and molecular structure of the surfactant, temperature, salinity, solvent, pressure, and pH . A critical aspect is the amphiphilic component selection since it directly affects the stability and behavior of the microemulsion. − We have previously designed and prepared amphiphilic copolymers to use as emulsifying agents that showed an adequate hydrophilic–lipophilic balance. , …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species Distribution in Bicontinuous Phase Systems for Enhanced Oil Recovery Probed by Single-Sided NMR

Velasco

Iborra

Giussi³

et al. 2022

Langmuir

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Multiphase aqueous-organic systems where a bicontinuous phase is in equilibrium with an excess organic and aqueous phase find various applications in industry. These systems�also known as Winsor III�are complex not only for the different phases that develop therein but also because they are multicomponent systems. In this work, we explore for the first time the use of a benchtop low-field single-sided NMR to determine the species distribution in Winsor III systems. The proposed methodology provides information at macroscopic and microscopic levels. In particular, we show the use of single-sided NMR to determine the phases' dimensions and the species distribution in a polymer-based bicontinuous system. The phases' dimensions and limits can be resolved with micrometric precision and are indicative of the bicontinuous phase stability. The species distribution is determined by means of spatially resolved NMR relaxation and diffusion experiments. It was observed that the salinity of the aqueous phase also impacts the species distribution in the bicontinuous system. Experiments show that the additive and the polymer are mainly located in the bicontinuous phase. As the salinity of the aqueous phase increases, the amount of organic components in the bicontinuous phase decreases as a consequence of the species distribution in the system. This influences the total amount of recovered organic liquid from the organic phase. The information is obtained in a relatively fast experiment and is relevant to the system's possible applications, such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). This methodology is not only circumscribed to its application in EOR but can also be applied to the study of any emulsion or microemulsion systems without sample size or geometry constraints.

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EOR Perspective of microemulsions: A review

Cited by 47 publications

References 197 publications

SDS–Aluminum Oxide Nanofluid for Enhanced Oil Recovery: IFT, Adsorption, and Oil Displacement Efficiency

SDS–Aluminum Oxide Nanofluid for Enhanced Oil Recovery: IFT, Adsorption, and Oil Displacement Efficiency

Wettability Alteration on Carbonate Rock by the Mixture of the Gemini Surfactant and Chelating Agent

Species Distribution in Bicontinuous Phase Systems for Enhanced Oil Recovery Probed by Single-Sided NMR

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