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Surfactant‐Induced Wettability Alteration of Oil‐Wet Sandstone Surface: Mechanisms and Its Effect on Oil Recovery
Author(s) -
Hou Baofeng,
Wang Yefei,
Cao Xulong,
Zhang Jun,
Song Xinwang,
Ding Mingchen,
Chen Wuhua
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of surfactants and detergents
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.349
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1558-9293
pISSN - 1097-3958
DOI - 10.1007/s11743-015-1770-y
Subject(s) - pulmonary surfactant , wetting , chemistry , surface tension , residual oil , adsorption , enhanced oil recovery , chemical engineering , imbibition , cationic polymerization , micromodel , saturation (graph theory) , contact angle , bromide , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , porous medium , porosity , thermodynamics , biochemistry , physics , germination , botany , mathematics , combinatorics , biology , engineering
Different analytical methods were utilized to investigate the mechanisms for wettability alteration of oil‐wet sandstone surfaces induced by different surfactants and the effect of reservoir wettability on oil recovery. The cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is more effective than the nonionic surfactant octylphenol ethoxylate (TX‐100) and the anionic surfactant sodium laureth sulfate (POE(1)) in altering the wettability of oil‐wet sandstone surfaces. The cationic surfactant CTAB was able to desorb negatively charged carboxylates of crude oil from the solid surface in an irreversible way by the formation of ion pairs. For the nonionic surfactant TX‐100 and the anionic surfactant POE(1), the wettability of oil‐wet sandstone surfaces is changed by the adsorption of surfactants on the solid surface. The different surfactants were added into water to vary the core surface wettability, while maintaining a constant interfacial tension. The more water‐wet core showed a higher oil recovery by spontaneous imbibition. The neutral wetting micromodel showed the highest oil recovery by waterflooding and the oil‐wet model showed the maximum residual oil saturation among all the models.