Competing Roles of Interfacial Tension and Surfactant Equivalent Weight in the Development of a Chemical Flood

This investigation focused on developing an efficient chemical flooding process by use of dilute surfactant/polymer slugs. The competing roles of interfacial tension (IFT) and equivalent weight (EW) of the surfactant used, as well as the effect of different types of preflushes on tertiary oil recovery, were studied. Volume of residual oil recovered per gram of surfactant used was examined as a function of these variables and slug size. Tertiary oil recovery increased with an increase in the dilute surfactant slug size and buffer viscosity. However, low IFT does not ensure high oil recovery. An increase in surfactant EW used actually can lead to a decrease in oil recovery. Tertiary oil recovery was also sensitive to preflush type. Reasons for the observed behavior are examined in relation to the surfactant properties as well as to adsorption and retention. Introduction Two approaches are being used in development of surfactant /polymer-type chemical floods:a small-PV slug of high surfactant concentration, ora large-PV slug of low surfactant concentration. This study deals with the latter-i.e., dilute aqueous slugs (with polymer added in many cases) containing less than or equal 2.0 wt% sulfonates and about 0. 1 wt% crude oil. Because the dilute slug contains little of the dispersed phase, an aqueous surfactant slug usually is unable to displace the oil miscibly; however, residual brine is miscible with the slug if the inorganic salt concentration is not excessive. The dilute, aqueous petroleum sulfonate slug lowers the oil/water IFT. overcoming capillary forces. This process commonly is referred to as locally immiscible oil displacement. Objectives The objective of this work was to develop an efficient dilute surfactant/polymer slug for the Bradford crude with a variety of sulfonate combinations. Effects of varying the slug characteristics such as equivalent weight, IFT, salt concentration, etc. on tertiary oil recovery were examined. Materials and Experimental Details The petroleum sulfonates and the dilute slugs used in this study are listed in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. The crude oil tested was Bradford crude 144 degrees API (0.003 g/cm3), 4 cp (0.004 Pa.s)]. The polymer solutions were prefiltered and driven by brines of various concentrations (0.02, 1.0, and 2.0% NACl). In many cases, the polymer was added to the slug. Conventional coreflood equipment described in Ref. 3 was used. Berea sandstone cores (unfired) 2 in, (5 cm) in diameter and 4 ft (1.3 m) in length were used for all tests, with a new core for each test. Porosity ranged from 19.3 to 21.0%, permeability averaged 203 md, and the waterflood residual oil saturation averaged 33.1%. IFT's were measured by the spinning drop method. Viscosities were measured with a Brookfield viscosimeter and are reported here for 6 rpm (0.1 rev/s). The dilute slugs containing polymer exhibited non-Newtonian behavior. Without polymer the behavior was Newtonian. Sulfonate concentration in the oleic phase was determined by an infrared spectrophotometer, while the concentration in the aqueous phase was measured by ultraviolet (UV) absorbance analysis. Discussion of Results Slug development in this investigation was an evolutionary process. Dilute slugs were developed and core tested in a sequential manner (Table 2). Slugs 100 through 200 yielded insignificant ternary oil recoveries (largely because of excessive adsorption and retention), but the results helped determine improvements in slug compositions and in the overall chemical flood. This paper gives results for the more efficient slugs only. SPEJ P. 472^