Two
series of double-chain single-head nonionic surfactants, Guerbet
alcohol ethoxylates (C
m
GA–E
n
; m = 16 and 20, n = 5.7–24.0), were synthesized, and their performances
as surfactants for surfactant–polymer (SP) flooding free of
alkali were evaluated. The products have relatively low critical micelle
concentrations [(6.8 × 10–7)–(1.0 ×
10–5 mol/L)] and a wide range of surface tensions
at the critical micelle concentration (γcmc) values
(30.3–38.0 mN/m) at 25 °C, depending on both the alkyl-chain
length and the number of ethylene oxide (EO) units. When used alone,
these nonionic surfactants are not efficient for reducing crude oil/connate
water interfacial tension (IFT), but their binary mixtures with a
highly hydrophobic zwitterionic surfactant, didodecylmethyl hydroxylpropyl
sulfobetaine (diC12HSB), are very efficient in reducing
Daqing crude oil/connate water IFTs. Ultralow IFTs can be achieved
in a wide total concentration range (0.3–10 mM) at 45 °C,
and the low limit (0.3 mM) can be further reduced to 0.15 mM by adding
an anionic surfactant, α-olefin sulfonate (AOS), to the binary
mixtures at a small mole fraction (0.1). Both the binary and ternary
mixtures display good resistance against adsorption by Daqing sandstone,
and when dissolved in connate water, they prefer to keep the negatively
charged rock surface water-wet and produce a crude-oil-in-water emulsion.
In addition, the incorporation of AOS into the binary mixtures was
found to be beneficial for preventing crystallization of zwitterionic
surfactant and flocculation of nonionic surfactants, as reported previously.
Comparatively, for SP flooding free of alkali, the Guerbet alcohol
ethoxylates are as excellent as the glyceryl ether ethoxylates, nonionic
surfactants with a similar double-alkyl single-head structure, but
are far superior to the conventional nonionic surfactants with monoalkyl
single-head structures.