The Evaluation Of Surfactant Systems For Oil Recovery Using Statistical Design Principles And Analysis

1978 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Gerbacia
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Statistical Design ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Surfactant Systems

A Ternary, Two-Phase, Mathematical Model of Oil Recovery With Surfactant Systems

1984 ◽  
Vol 24 (06) ◽  
pp. 606-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles P. Thomas ◽  
Paul D. Fleming ◽  
William K. Winter
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Arbitrary Number ◽  
The Other ◽  
Phase System ◽  
Chemical Flooding ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
Surfactant Systems ◽  
And Diffusion

Abstract A mathematical model describing one-dimensional (1D), isothermal flow of a ternary, two-phase surfactant system in isotropic porous media is presented along with numerical solutions of special cases. These solutions exhibit oil recovery profiles similar to those observed in laboratory tests of oil displacement by surfactant systems in cores. The model includes the effects of surfactant transfer between aqueous and hydrocarbon phases and both reversible and irreversible surfactant adsorption by the porous medium. The effects of capillary pressure and diffusion are ignored, however. The model is based on relative permeability concepts and employs a family of relative permeability curves that incorporate the effects of surfactant concentration on interfacial tension (IFT), the viscosity of the phases, and the volumetric flow rate. A numerical procedure was developed that results in two finite difference equations that are accurate to second order in the timestep size and first order in the spacestep size and allows explicit calculation of phase saturations and surfactant concentrations as a function of space and time variables. Numerical dispersion (truncation error) present in the two equations tends to mimic the neglected present in the two equations tends to mimic the neglected effects of capillary pressure and diffusion. The effective diffusion constants associated with this effect are proportional to the spacestep size. proportional to the spacestep size. Introduction In a previous paper we presented a system of differential equations that can be used to model oil recovery by chemical flooding. The general system allows for an arbitrary number of components as well as an arbitrary number of phases in an isothermal system. For a binary, two-phase system, the equations reduced to those of the Buckley-Leverett theory under the usual assumptions of incompressibility and each phase containing only a single component, as well as in the more general case where both phases have significant concentrations of both components, but the phases are incompressible and the concentration in one phase is a very weak function of the pressure of the other phase at a given temperature. pressure of the other phase at a given temperature. For a ternary, two-phase system a set of three differential equations was obtained. These equations are applicable to chemical flooding with surfactant, polymer, etc. In this paper, we present a numerical solution to these equations paper, we present a numerical solution to these equations for I D flow in the absence of gravity. Our purpose is to develop a model that includes the physical phenomena influencing oil displacement by surfactant systems and bridges the gap between laboratory displacement tests and reservoir simulation. It also should be of value in defining experiments to elucidate the mechanisms involved in oil displacement by surfactant systems and ultimately reduce the number of experiments necessary to optimize a given surfactant system.

scholarly journals Screening of mixed surfactant systems: Phase behavior studies and CT imaging of surfactant-enhanced oil recovery experiments

1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.M. Llave ◽  
B.L. Gall ◽  
P.B. Lorenz ◽  
I.M. Cook ◽  
L.J. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Phase Behavior ◽  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Ct Imaging ◽  
Mixed Surfactant ◽  
Mixed Surfactant Systems ◽  
Surfactant Systems

Importance of lignosulfonates in petroleum recovery operations

1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (13) ◽  
pp. 1938-1943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Neale ◽  
Vladimir Hornof ◽  
Christopher Chiwetelu
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Phase Behaviour ◽  
Oil Fields ◽  
Potential Importance ◽  
Mixed Surfactant ◽  
Interfacial Tensions ◽  
Mixed Surfactant Systems ◽  
Petroleum Sulfonate ◽  
Surfactant Systems

This paper reviews the potential importance of aqueous lignosulfonate solutions in the recovery of petroleum from existing partially depleted oil fields. The surfactant qualities of lignosulfonates are described and their ability to interact synergistically with petroleum sulfonate surfactants (which are currently popular in the industry) to produce ultra-low interfacial tensions with crude oil is discussed. The phase behaviour characteristics and oil recovery efficacies of these mixed surfactant systems are also examined.

scholarly journals THE EFFECT OF HARDNESS AND TEMPERATURE ON INTERFACIAL TENSION OF INDIVIDUAL AND MIXED SURFACTANT SYSTEM

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-65
Author(s):  
NUR ASYRAF MD AKHIR ◽  
AFIF IZWAN ABD HAMID ◽  
ISMAIL MOHD SAAID ◽  
ANITA RAMLI
Keyword(s):  
Interfacial Tension ◽  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Alkyl Ether ◽  
Mixed Surfactant ◽  
Mixed Surfactant System ◽  
Mixed Surfactant Systems ◽  
Surfactant System ◽  
Surfactant Systems ◽  
The Individual

Surfactant flooding is one of the chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) techniques that can be used to improve oil recovery. The surfactant injection reduces the oil-water interfacial tension and mobilizes residual oil towards the producing well. In this paper, the performance of alkyl ether carboxylate (AEC) and calcium lignosulfonate (CLS) in individual and mixed surfactant systems were investigated based on their ability to reduce the interfacial tension through a spinning drop method.   The interfacial tensions of individual and mixed surfactant systems in different brine systems were measured against decane at 25°C and 98°C. The results show that the individual and mixed surfactant systems in 3.5 wt.% NaCl brine has a significant reduction in interfacial tension at 98°C. In contrast, the presence of hardness in 2.5 wt.% NaCl and 1.0 wt.% MgCl2 brine reduces the interfacial tension of the individual AEC surfactant system and mixed surfactant system significantly at 98°C except for the individual CLS system. Meanwhile, the interfacial tension of mixed surfactant system decreases with increasing surfactant concentration in two brine systems and at 98°C. The findings show the significant application of the AEC and CLS surfactant mixture considering the harsh reservoir conditions for the chemical enhanced oil recovery application.

Optimal Injection Policies for Enhanced Oil Recovery: Part 2-Surfactant Flooding

1984 ◽  
Vol 24 (03) ◽  
pp. 333-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zohreh Fathi ◽  
Fred W. Ramirez
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Volumetric Flow Rate ◽  
Commercial Application ◽  
Type B ◽  
Surfactant Flooding ◽  
Tertiary Oil Recovery ◽  
Optimal Injection ◽  
Surfactant Systems ◽  
The Cost

Abstract The optimal control theory of distributed-paranieter systems has been applied to the problem of determining the best injection policy of a surfactant slug for a tertiary oil recovery chemical flood. The optimization criterion is to maximize the amount of oil recovered while minimizing the chemical cost. A steepest-descent gradient method was used as the computational approach to the solution of this dynamic optimization problem. The performance of the algorithm was examined for the surfactant injection in a one-dimensional flooding problem. Two types of interfacial tension (IFT) behavior problem. Two types of interfacial tension (IFT) behavior were considered. These are a Type A system where the IFT is a monotonically decreasing function with solute concentration and a Type B system where a minimum IFT occurs at a nominal surfactant concentration. For a Type A system, the shape of the optimal in 'faction strategy was not unique, however, there is a unique optimum for the amount of surfactant needed. For a Type B system, the shape of the optimal injection as well as the amount injected was unique. Introduction Surfactant recovery systems are being investigated by the petroleum industry as a means of increasing the petroleum supply. Commercial application of any petroleum supply. Commercial application of any surfactant flooding process relies upon economic projections that indicate a decent return on investment. projections that indicate a decent return on investment. Previously. surfactant systems for tertiary oil recovery have been optimized by adjusting concentrations of individual components empirically. Salinity has been shown to be an important variable in surfactant system optimization. The particular choice of surfactant and cosurfactant has been studied by Salager et al. Multivariable optimization of surfactant systems based on minimizing the IFT has been studied by Vinatiere et al. As reported, such an optimization may or may not coincide with optimal oil recovery since low IFT is a necessary. but not a sufficient condition for achieving, high displacement efficiency. Chemical supply and cost are important parts of economic projections. Because of the high cost of chemicals, it is essential to optimize surfactant systems to provide the greatest oil recovery at the lowest cost. In this paper, an optimization surfactant is taken as the minimization of the chemical cost and maximization of the recovered oil. The goal is to determine the best way of injecting a surfactant slug into the reservoir formation. Mathematical Formulation of the Performance Index Performance Index We desire to obtain maximum oil recovery with a minimum amount of chemical surfactant injected. These objectives can he expressed in a quantitative form through the formulation of a cost functional. J', which is to be minimized, where J' equals the cost of surfactant injected minus the value of oil recovered. This descriptive statement of the cost functional must be translated into a mathematical form to use quantitative optimization techniques. The oil value can be formulated as (1) where C1 = cost of oil per unit volume ($251.6/m 3[$40/bbl]),= volumetric flow, rate of oil at the coreoutlet L = core length, and a = time. The chemical cost is expressed mathematically as (2) where C2 = chemical cost per unit weight ofsurfactant ($5.45 × 10–3/g [$2.47/lbm]), Cs( ) = surfactant concentration of the injectedfluid in weight fraction, P slug = slug density ( 1 g/cm 3 ). and Qw, ( ) = volumetric flow rate of water at thecore inlet. The objective functional is, therefore, (3) JPT P. 333

Correlation of Emulsion Stability With Phase Behavior in Surfactant Systems for Tertiary Oil Recovery

1980 ◽  
Vol 20 (05) ◽  
pp. 402-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Vinatieri
Keyword(s):  
Phase Behavior ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Emulsion Stability ◽  
Equilibrium Phase ◽  
Phillips Petroleum ◽  
The North ◽  
Three Phase ◽  
Tertiary Oil Recovery ◽  
Surfactant Systems ◽  
Oilfield Operations

Abstract This paper describes a study of the emulsions which could occur during a pilot surfactant flood, such as that conducted by Phillips Petroleum Co. in the North Burbank Unit, Osage County, OK. The phase behavior of this surfactant system can be characterized by three types of microemulsions, with the transition from one type to another being a function of the salinity. The rate at which emulsions coalesce was seen to correlate directly with the type of microemulsion. Coalescence was slow for macroemulsions at low salinities, rapid at intermediate salinities (where the final state was a three-phase system), and varied from slow to rapid at salinities above the three-phase region. Knowledge of the correlation between phase behavior and emulsion stability can be useful in treating macroemulsions produced during a surfactant flood. Introduction With the increased emphasis currently being placed on the use of surfactants for tertiary oil recovery, a potential problem exists with emulsions which can be produced as a consequence of a surfactant flood. For example, if a channeling problem between an injection well and a production well should occur, it may be possible to produce relatively large amounts of surfactant at moderately high concentrations (0.2 to 2.0070). Under these conditions, emulsions of oil and brine could be stabilized by the presence of the surfactant and could pose a serious problem. Although these emulsions are thermodynamically unstable and ultimately should separate into bulk oil and water phases, the presence of surfactants can increase greatly the time required for such separations. Typical oilfield operations allow, at most, several hours for this separation of phases to occur, but some emulsions containing surfactants may require weeks or even months to separate. Thus, a definite need exists for being able to accelerate this coalescence process. Phillips Petroleum Co. is conducting a pilot surfactant flood in the North Burbank Unit (NBU) in Osage County.1,2 The work reported here was directed at developing a contingency plan for breaking emulsions which may be produced by this surfactant flood. The problem of studying emulsions produced by a surfactant flood has two aspects:the nature of the phases which result when thermodynamic equilibrium finally is attained andthe rate at which this equilibrium state is reached. This is not to imply that any emulsion can be described completely by characterization of these two properties but rather that these are the two properties most important to oilfield operations and, hence, form the basis for the work reported here. The next section discusses the equilibrium properties of surfactant systems and the one following discusses the coalescence of emulsions. The fourth section describes the use of chemical demulsifiers to accelerate coalescence. Equilibrium Phase Behavior The equilibrium phase behavior of systems of oil and water containing appreciable amounts of surfactant (i.e., 0.5%) is characterized by the presence of microemulsions.1,3-5 These microemulsion phases have a high degree of structure and may contain large amounts of both oil and water.

Mechanism studies on the application of the mixed cationic/anionic surfactant systems to enhance oil recovery

Fuel ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 258 ◽  
pp. 116156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Jia ◽  
Peng Lian ◽  
Xu Leng ◽  
Yugui Han ◽  
Qiuxia Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Anionic Surfactant ◽  
Surfactant Systems ◽  
Enhance Oil Recovery

Study of phase behaviour and ionic effect of green surfactants in MEOR

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bashirul Haq ◽  
Jishan Liu ◽  
Keyu Liu ◽  
Dhafer Al Shehri
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Alkyl Group ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Carbon Number ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Phase Behaviour ◽  
Ionic Surfactant ◽  
Core Flooding ◽  
Surfactant Systems ◽  
Group Carbon

The phase behaviour of surfactant systems is an important characteristic for microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) and is a key method for understanding and predicting the performance of surfactant systems. In addition, ions play a vital role in surfactant chemistry and the ionic effects of green surfactants are not yet well characterised. Green surfactants are biodegradable and environmental friendly and perceived to have great potential for MEOR. This study characterises some green anionic and non-ionic surfactants through phase behaviour study, interfacial tension (IFT) and core flooding experiments. At the same time, the combined effect of the surfactants with alcohols on IFT through laboratory experiments are looked into. Our laboratory experiments have confirmed that the non-ionic surfactant is more active in the reduction of IFT than anionic surfactant. Bio-surfactant is unable to form stable middle phase. Temperature and pressure appear to have little effect on the IFT of non-ionic surfactant. There is no significant reduction in IFT values when the non-ionic surfactant is combined with pentanol in varying concentrations. The role of alkyl group carbon number in non-ionic surfactant was also investigated in this study. It was found that the IFT value decreased by increasing the lower limit alkyl group carbon number.

Dual surfactant systems for enhanced oil recovery at high salinities

1991 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.J. Miller ◽  
S.-P. von Halasz ◽  
M. Schmidt ◽  
A. Holst ◽  
G. Pusch
Keyword(s):  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Surfactant Systems
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