Characteristics of foaming of surfactant solutions in presence of hydrocarbon liquids
As an aid to understanding and improving the ability of foaming agents (aqueous solutions of surfactants) for cleaning plugs in gas wells at the exhaustion stage and gas pipelines, a study of behavior of 1% solutions of commercial surfactants in artifically mineralized water in the presence of hydrocarbons was carried out. The surfactants tested were ethoxylated secondary aliphatic alcohols (Neonol V1020-20 and Neonol V1317-14), carboxybetaine of the alkyldimethylamine of the C/sub 10/-C/sub 16/ fraction, and sodium sulfoethyoxylates based on primary alcohols of the C/sub 10/-C/sub 13/ fraction ethoxylated with 3 moles of ethylene oxide. The foaming power of the surfactant solutions was tested using gas condensate from Shebelinka and binary mixtures of hexane and benzene. Mathematical expressions were developed to describe the action of the foaming agents, and experimentally determined behavior was compared with predicted behavior. The main requirements necessary for a good foaming agent were concluded to be (1) fairly good foaming power, but not necessarily good foam stability, and (2) effectiveness to strongly lower the surface tension of the aqueous solution while having a relatively weak lowering effect on the interfacial tension between the foaming gent and the condensate. (BLM)
- OSTI ID:
- 5115702
- Journal Information:
- J. Appl. Chem. USSR (Engl. Transl.); (United States), Vol. 52:7; Other Information: Translated from Zh. Prikl. Khim.; 52: No. 5, 1523-1528(Jul 1979)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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