Adsorption from flooding solutions in porous media: a study of interactions of surfactants and polymers with reservoir minerals. Annual report

Technical Report · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981

OSTI ID:5378434

Somasundaran, P

Past studies on the interactions of sulfonates with dissolved inorganics showed that sulfonates precipitated by multivalent ions can undergo redissolution upon increasing either the sulfonate or NaCl concentration. At higher sulfonate and NaCl levels the surfactant reprecipitated. These studies also showed redissolution to occur only in the presence of micelles. The role of mechanisms involving such factors as complexation seems to be minimal under the conditions studied. Since the phenomenon of redissolution can be beneficially used for minimizing the surfactant loss due to precipitation, investigation of this phenomenon was continued during the current year. The objectives of this study were to develop a quantitative understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved and to formulate a model with predictive capabilities for the precipitation behavior of surfactant/inorganic ions systems. Towards this purpose, precipitation/redissolution/reprecipitation behavior of sulfonates was studied as a function of relevant variables including surfactant and salt concentration, surfactant chain length, alcohol and oil concentration and temperature.

• Research Organization: Columbia Univ., New York (USA). School of Engineering and Applied Science
• DOE Contract Number: AC19-79BC10082
• OSTI ID: 5378434
• Report Number(s): DOE/BC/10082-8; ON: DE82009072
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400301 -- Organic Chemistry-- Chemical & Physicochemical Properties-- (-1987)
ADSORPTION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
FLUID INJECTION
MATERIALS
MICELLAR SYSTEMS
MICROEMULSION FLOODING
MINERALS
MISCIBLE-PHASE DISPLACEMENT
OIL WELLS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
POLYMERS
POROUS MATERIALS
PRECIPITATION
RESERVOIR ROCK
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLUBILITY
SORPTION
SULFONATES
SURFACTANTS
WELLS