Model Study of Enhanced Oil Recovery by Flooding with Aqueous Solutions of Different Surfactants: How the Surface Chemical Properties of the Surfactants Relate to the Amount of Oil Recovered

Fletcher, Paul D. I.; Clarke, Andrew; Savory, Luke D.; Howe, Andrew M.

Abstract

© 2016 American Chemical Society. The main aim of this work is to establish how the fraction of oil recovered from an oil-filled calcite powder packed column by injection of aqueous surfactant solution depends on the phase behavior and surface chemical properties of the surfactant system. We have measured the phase behavior, the adsorption of surfactant to the oil-water, calcite-water, and calcite-oil interfaces, tensions, and contact angles for anionic, cationic, and nonionic surfactant/oil/aqueous phase systems. We show how the measured surface chemical properties can be used to approximately predict the fraction of oil recovered as a function of the volume and concentration of the surfactant solutions injected into the column. Measured and calculated plots of %oil recovery versus surfactant concentration show reasonably good agreement for the different surfactant systems. The experimentally validated model for oil recovery provides a sound basis for the rational selection of surfactant type and concentration to achieve maximum oil recovery based on laboratory measurements of the surface chemical properties of candidate surfactants.

Citation

Fletcher, P. D. I., Clarke, A., Savory, L. D., & Howe, A. M. (2016). Model Study of Enhanced Oil Recovery by Flooding with Aqueous Solutions of Different Surfactants: How the Surface Chemical Properties of the Surfactants Relate to the Amount of Oil Recovered. Energy and Fuels, 30(6), 4767-4780. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b00797

• Acceptance Date: May 15, 2016
• Online Publication Date: May 16, 2016
• Publication Date: Jun 16, 2016
• Deposit Date: May 16, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: May 16, 2016
• Journal: Energy & fuels
• Print ISSN: 0887-0624
• Electronic ISSN: 1520-5029
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 4767-4780
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b00797
• Keywords: Oil recovery, Surfactant solution flooding
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/438192
• Publisher URL: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b00797
• Additional Information: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Energy & fuels, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b00797