Study on the Synergistic Effects between Petroleum Sulfonate and a Nonionic–Anionic Surfactant for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Huoxin Luan, Zhaohui Zhou, Chongjun Xu, Lei Bai, Xiaoguang Wang, Lu Han, Qun Zhang and Gen Li
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Huoxin Luan: Xinjiang Oilfield Research Institute of Experiment & Testing, Karamay 834000, China
Zhaohui Zhou: State Key Laboratory of Enhanced Oil Recovery, PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Chongjun Xu: Xinjiang Oilfield Research Institute of Experiment & Testing, Karamay 834000, China
Lei Bai: Xinjiang Oilfield Research Institute of Experiment & Testing, Karamay 834000, China
Xiaoguang Wang: Xinjiang Oilfield Research Institute of Exploration & Development, Karamay 834000, China
Lu Han: State Key Laboratory of Enhanced Oil Recovery, PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Qun Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Enhanced Oil Recovery, PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China
Gen Li: Department of Petroleum Engineering, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-12

Abstract: Nonionic–anionic surfactants are expected to be applied in chemical flooding due to their important properties such as ultralow IFT values, good salt tolerance, and no chromatographic separation in porous media. In this study, a new type of nonionic–anionic–hydrophobic group structure surfactant N, N-dihydroxyethylalkylamide carboxylate (EAMC) was synthesized. The synergistic effects between petroleum sulfonate (KPS) and EAMC in reducing interfacial tension (IFT) and emulsification properties were studied. The influences of salt, alkali and Ca 2+ on the IFTs of surfactant solutions were also investigated. One-dimensional core flooding experiments were used to characterize the enhanced oil recovery capability of the KPS and EAMC mixed system. The experimental results show that both EAMC and KPS have high interfacial activity and can reduce IFTs to about 0.01 mN/m order of magnitude against decane at optimized concentrations. The area occupied by the hydrophilic group of EAMC on the interface is smaller than that of its own hydrophobic group. The interfacial film formed by EAMC alone is relatively loose. The IFTs of KPS containing different structure petroleum sulfonates is affected by the difference in the adsorption rate of petroleum sulfonates on the interface, which shows that both the dynamic and equilibrium interfacial tensions can have the lowest values. However, the IFTs of the EAMC solutions against crude oil can be reduced to ultralow values because the mixed tight adsorption film is formed by EAMC and crude oil fraction molecules with synergistic effect. On the other hand, the KPS molecule has a hydrophobic part with large size and no synergism with crude oil fractions can be observed in the solutions containing only KPS. The combination of EAMC and KPS shows synergistic effect, namely ultralow IFT values, good emulsification properties, high alkali tolerance, and good salt and Ca 2+ tolerance during a wide percentage range of EAMC. The best formula of EAMC and KPS system can be applied for EOR after polymer flooding. The studies in this paper are helpful for the design and application of a chemical flooding formula with nonionic–anionic–hydrophobic group structure surfactants.

Keywords: petroleum sulfonate; nonionic–anionic surfactant; synergistic effect; interfacial tension; enhanced oil recovery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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