Green surfactant for enhanced oil recovery

Green enhanced oil recovery is an oil recovery process involving the injection of specific environmentally friendly fluids (liquid chemicals and gases) that effectively displace oil due to their ability to alter the properties of enhanced oil recovery. In the microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) process, microbes produce products such as surfactants, polymers, ketones, alcohols, and gases. These products reduce interfacial tension and capillary force, increase viscosity and mobility, alter wettability, and boost oil production. The influence of ketones in green surfactant-polymer (SP) formulations is not yet well understood and requires further analysis. The work aims to examine acetone and butanone’s effectiveness in green SP formulations used in a sandstone reservoir. The manuscript consists of both laboratory experiments and simulations. The two microbial ketones examined in this work are acetone and butanone. A spinning drop tensiometer was utilized to determine the interfacial tension (IFT) values for the selected formulations. Viscosity and shear rate across a wide range of temperatures were measured via a Discovery hybrid rheometer. Two core flood experiments were then conducted using sandstone cores at reservoir temperature and pressure. The two formulations selected were an acetone and SP blend and a butanone and SP mixture. These were chosen based on their IFT reduction and viscosity enhancement capabilities for core flooding, both important in assessing a sandstone core’s oil recovery potential. In the first formulation, acetone was mixed with alkyl polyglucoside (APG), a non-ionic green surfactant, and the biopolymer Xanthan gum (XG). This formulation produced 32% tertiary oil in the sandstone core. In addition, the acetone and SP formulation was effective at recovering residual oil from the core. In the second formulation, butanone was blended with APG and XG; the formulation recovered about 25% residual oil from the sandstone core. A modified Eclipse simulator was utilized to simulate the acetone and SP core-flood experiment and examine the effects of surfactant adsorption on oil recovery. The simulated oil recovery curve matched well with the laboratory values. In the sensitivity analysis, it was found that oil recovery decreased as the adsorption values increased.

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The role of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon particles in green enhanced oil recovery (GEOR) for Arabian crude oil in sandstone core

The APPEA Journal ◽

10.1071/aj19017 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 133 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Bashirul Haq ◽

Dhafer Al Shehri ◽

Abdulaziz Al Damegh ◽

Abdullatif Al Muhawesh ◽

Mustafa Albusaad ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Nanotubes ◽

Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽

Oil Recovery ◽

Carbon Particle ◽

Phase Behaviour ◽

Water Flooding ◽

Surfactant Mixtures ◽

Carbon Particles ◽

Green Surfactant

Green enhanced oil recovery (GEOR) is a chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) involving the injection of specific green chemicals (surfactants/alcohols/polymers) that effectively displace oil because of their phase-behaviour properties, which decrease the IFT between the displacing liquid and the oil. Carbon nanoparticles application in EOR has sparked interest in the last few years due to its unique characteristics. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are one of the common carbon nanomaterials with EOR potential, but they are not used with green surfactant to improve oil recovery. In addition, the recently developed Date Leaf Carbon Particle (DLCP) method has not been applied to GEOR and requires further study. The role of carbon particles in GEOR is not well understood and requires further investigation. This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of DLCP and CNT in green surfactant alkyl polyglucoside (APG) for recovering residual oil within rock pores. The study consisted of a set of laboratory experiments. Two formulations of DLCP, CNT and green surfactant mixtures were selected for core-flood experiments based on interfacial tension measurements to examine their potential for EOR. In the first formulation, 0.08% DLCP was mixed with 0.5% APG and produced 45% of tertiary oil and 89% of oil initially in place (OIIP). This formulation produced a significant quantity of incremental oil after water flooding. Lastly, 0.5% APG was blended with 0.08% CNT; this produced about 27% tertiary oil and 77% OIIP.

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Enhanced Oil Recovery, II - Processes and Operations

10.1016/s0376-7361(08)x7024-4 ◽

1989 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽

Oil Recovery

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Preculaatities of evaluation of the effectiveness of flow deflection technologies

Moscow University Bulletin. Series 4. Geology ◽

10.33623/0579-9406-2018-6-93-101 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 93-101

Author(s):

A. A. Kazakov ◽

V. V. Chelepov ◽

R. G. Ramazanov

Keyword(s):

Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽

Oil Recovery ◽

Production Well ◽

Oil Companies ◽

Efficiency Calculation ◽

Petroleum Companies ◽

Flow Deflection ◽

Recovery Methods

The features of evaluation of the effectiveness of flow deflection technologies of enhanced oil recovery methods. It is shown that the effect of zeroing component intensification of fluid withdrawal leads to an overestimation of the effect of flow deflection technology (PRP). Used in oil companies practice PRP efficiency calculation, which consists in calculating the effect on each production well responsive to subsequent summation effects, leads to the selective taking into account only the positive components of PRP effect. Negative constituents — not taken into account and it brings overestimate over to overstating of efficiency. On actual examples the groundless overstating and understating of efficiency is shown overestimate at calculations on applied in petroleum companies by a calculation.

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