BEHAVIOR OF SURFACTANT MIXTURES AT SOLID/LIQUID AND OIL/LIQUID INTERFACES IN CHEMICAL FLOODING SYSTEMS

Somasundaran, Prof. P.

Columbia University in the City of New York (United States)

关键词: Ultracentrifugation;    02 Petroleum;    Physical Properties;    Ultracentrifuges;    Density;   

DOI  :  10.2172/822099
RP-ID  :  NONE
RP-ID  :  FC26-01BC15312
RP-ID  :  822099

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The aim of the project is to develop a knowledge base to help with the design of enhanced process for mobilizing and extracting untrapped oil. We emphasize on evaluating novel surfactant mixtures and on obtaining optimum combinations of the surfactants in chemical flooding EOR process. An understanding of the micellar shape and size is crucial since these physical properties directly determine the crude oil removal efficiency. Analytical ultracentrifugation experiments were used to test the multi-micelle model proposed earlier and formulate the relationships between mixed micelle formation and the surfactant structure. Information on partial specific volume of surfactants and their mixtures is required to treat analytical ultracentrifuge data. In the last report, it was noted that the partial specific volumes of the sugar-based surfactants obtained experimentally did not agree with those from theoretical calculations. A scrutiny of partial specific volumes of the four sugar-based surfactants revealed that conformational changes upon micelle formation are responsible for the large deviation. From sedimentation equilibrium experiments, two types of micelles were identified for the nonionic polyethylene surfactant and its mixtures with the sugar-based surfactant, dodecyl maltoside. The average aggregation numbers of n-dodecyl-{beta}-D-maltoside and nonyl phenol ethoxylated decyl ether agreed with those reported in literature using other techniques. Our study displayed, for the first time, that small micelles might coexist with large micelles at high concentrations due to unique structures of the surfactant although classical thermodynamic theory supports only one type of micelle. Initial dynamic light scattering results support the results for the same mixed surfactant system from analytical ultracentrifuge equilibrium technique. The implication of this finding lies in the fact that efficiency of oil recovery will be improved due to the large micellar size, its polymer-like fluidity and possible reduced adsorption on solids.