SYNTHESIS AND PERFORMANCE OF SURFACTANT FOR ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY APPLICATION

Abstract

Enhanced oil recovery is still very relevant in the oil and gas industry today because of the need to maximise the available reserves as much as possible. In this study, an anionic surfactant was synthesised and characterised for the purpose of enhanced oil recovery applications. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis was used to identify the functional groups in the surfactant and the surface tension method was used to determine its critical micelle concentration. Also, interfacial tension and contact angle measurements were used to investigate the interfacial actives of the surfactant. The results of the study showed that the surfactant has a CMC of 0.1 v/v% and it reduced the surface tension of deionised water from 72.48 mN/m to 30.45 mN/m at this concentration. Furthermore, the surfactant demonstrated high interfacial actives even in saline environments and it achieved a 96.96% crude oil-brine IFT reduction. The surfactant also demonstrated surface wettability alteration potential by modifying solid surfaces towards increased water wetness. Finally, the surfactant increased oil recovery by producing an additional 14% OIIP recovery in tertiary application due to its high surface activity. The results of this study show that the synthesised surfactant has an enhanced oil recovery potential that can be explored.

 

KEYWORDS:  surfactant; wettability, salinity, enhanced oil recovery and interfacial tension.

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