Alkaline Flooding of Low Acid Number Crude Oil

Alkaline water flooding is an enhance oil recovery process where the pH of the injection water is increase by addition of relatively inexpensive alkaline agents in an effort towards improving oil recovery. This final report describe about alkaline flooding for low acid number crude oil begin with background of the project which emphasize more on type of alkali used in this project whether strong or weak to determine the cause in lowering the interfacial tension. Besides that, this project also means to examine the oil-in-water emulsion retention and wettabilty changes. The problem statement in this project is how alkaline flooding can increase oil recovery even in low acid number crude oil. Several theories and has been introduced to prove there is no exact correlation between acid number and displacement efficiency. In the end of project background, 3 objectives has been setup which are; 1) examine the end-point fluid relative permeability changes using strong and weak alkali, 2) examine emulsion retention of oil-in-water emulsion and relation with dynamic interfacial tension, 3) investigate wettability alteration with respect to contact angle, to be achieved throughout this project. In addition, scope of study has been narrow down in order to achieve the objectives. Relative permeability, emulsion retention, interfacial tension, gas chromatographic test and wettability alteration are the scope of studies for this project. More theories and findings are described in literature review to give the full analysis of the alkaline flooding especially in low acid number from the past until recent findings and innovation. In this part, more citation and references are from the past in order to get the flow on how the experts conduct their research. The flow of project and activities are described in methodology. The laboratory works is determined which consist of general experiment and objectives experiment. To ensure the project meet the timeline, Gantt chart is provided to give clear view of whole processes and project activities. Furthermore, the results obtained and findings which are the formation of winsor type III microemulsion and changes in contact angle in this project are further discussed with the aid of pictures, graphs, and tables to prove the successful of alkaline flooding of low acid number crude oil. Finally, the conclusion and recommendation of this project are suggested at the end of this report as complement element for this project