Effects of petroleum products on soil wettability
- Clarkson Univ., Potsdam, NY (United States)
Wettability can greatly affect the distribution and flow of petroleum products through the subsurface. Petroleum engineers have noted that the sorption of high molecular weight polar molecules in crude oils can cause mineral surfaces to change front hydrophilic to hydrophobic. For this work, the hypothesis that similar effects could be important for petroleum products spilled in the environment was evaluated. Three different tests were used to evaluate the wettability of quartz surfaces after exposure to organic phase pollutants. Both purchased commercial petroleum products and samples collected from field-scale free-phase recovery operations were utilized. Results show that weakly water wetting to intermediate wetting conditions occurred after exposure to several of the samples. Products derived from the higher molecular weight fractions generally had a greater effect. Gasoline samples caused weakly water wetting conditions due to other additives, such as surfactants, which are included during the formulation of commercial gasolines.
- OSTI ID:
- 370282
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960376--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Effect of a nanoparticle on wettability alteration and wettability retainment of carbonate reservoirs
Enhancement of the wettability of coal powders using surfactants