Surfactant loss control in chemical flooding spectroscopic and calorimetric study of adsorption and precipitation on reservoir minerals. Annual report, September 30, 1992--September 30 1995

The aim of this research project was to investigate mechanisms governing adsorption and surface precipitation of flooding surfactants on reservoir minerals. Effects of surfactant structure, surfactant combinations, various inorganic and polymeric species, and solids mineralogy have been determined. A multi-pronged approach consisting of micro & nano spectroscopy, electrokinetics, surface tension and wettability is used in this study. The results obtained should help in controlling surfactant loss in chemical flooding and in developing optimum structures and conditions for efficient chemical flooding processes. During the three years contract period, adsorption of single surfactants and select surfactant mixtures was studied at the solid-liquid and gas-liquid interfaces. Alkyl xylene sulfonates, polyethoxylated alkyl phenols, octaethylene glycol mono n-decyl ether, and tetradecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride were the surfactants studied. Adsorption of surfactant mixtures of varying composition was also investigated. The microstructure of the adsorbed layer was characterized using fluorescence spectroscopy. Changes in interfacial properties such as wettability, electrokinetics and stability of reservoir minerals were correlated with the amounts of reagent adsorbed. Strong effects of the structure of the surfactant and position of functional groups were revealed. Changes of microstructure upon dilution (desorption) were also studied. Presence of the nonionic surfactants in mixed aggregate leads to shielding of the charge of ionic surfactants which in turn promotes aggregation but reduced electrostatic attraction between the charged surfactant and the mineral surface. Strong consequences of surfactant interactions in solution on adsorption as well as correlations between monomer concentration in mixtures and adsorption were revealed