Surfactant adsorption and chromatographic movement with application in enhanced oil recovery

Thesis/Dissertation · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5235504

Harwell, J H

The tendency of mixtures of surface active compounds (surfactants) to separate chromatographically was examined experimentally and by study of theoretical models. Model development included proposal of a new hypothesis concerning surfactant adsorption mechanisms on mineral oxides and formulation of a new multicomponent surfactant adsorption isotherm based on this hypothesis. The new isotherm emphasizes patchwise formation of local surfactant bilayers termed admicelles. Experimental adsorption isotherms on ..cap alpha..-alumina for two monoisomeric alkyl benzene sulfonates were fit with this model. Two theoretical models of surfactant chromatographic movement were studied. The first included formation of mixed surfactant aggregates in the bulk solution (mixed micelle formation) but neglected complex surface interactions, allowing delineation of the effects of mixed micelle formation on surfactant chromatography. The second surfactant chromatographic model incorporated the new surfactant adsorption isotherm. Solution of this second model confirmed predictions of the first model and also showed quantitative agreement with experiment. Having demonstrated the general validity of the model predictions, the more simple model was used for a preliminary examination from view point of chromatographic separation the question of injection strategies for enhanced oil recovery chemical floods. In these floods a slug of aqueous surfactant solution is injected into an oil reservoir to release oil trapped in pores of the reservoir rock. Based on this study tentative guidelines were presented for choosing a small pore volume, high surfactant concentration slug as opposed to a large pore volume, low concentration slug. It was concluded that for currently available commercial surfactants low concentration, large pore volume slugs require less surfactant to expose the same reservoir volume to the injected mixture.

• OSTI ID: 5235504
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
ADSORPTION
CHROMATOGRAPHY
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLUID INJECTION
MICELLAR SYSTEMS
MICROEMULSION FLOODING
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
OIL WELLS
RECOVERY
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SORPTION
SURFACTANTS
WELLS