skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Sacrificial agents for micellar-flooding enhanced oil recovery

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7062959

The enormous potential of increasing recoverable petroleum reserves by micellar flooding is not yet realized. Costs of the chemicals and disappointing performance in field pilots, particularly in formations where the aqueous phase is of high salinity or hardness, have been the main barriers to implementation. Loss of chemicals by adsorption on formation minerals and by precipitation by multivalent counterions increase the amounts that must be used and make difficult maintenance of chemical compositions optimal for displacement. Preflushes with agents that preferentially adsorb or that sequester multivalent cations might alleviate these problems. Wastes or low- value byproducts from the pulping of wood by the kraft process are shown to decrease the loss of surfactants from solutions in contact with minerals present in oil-bearing formations. Of these, weak black liquor (spent digestion fluid), caustic extract from bleaching of pulp, and sodium saccharinates seem particularly interesting. These should be available in sufficient quantity and at low enough cost to be feasible for use. 23 refs., 17 figs., 2 tabs.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA); Wake Forest Univ., Winston-Salem, NC (USA). Dept. of Chemistry
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
7062959
Report Number(s):
CONF-8606270-1; ON: DE87002175
Resource Relation:
Conference: Surface activity, colloid and interfacei property and industrial applications conference, Belgirate, Italy, 9 Jun 1986; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English