Next Generation Surfactants for Improved Chemical Flooding Technology

The principle objective of this project was to characterize and test current and next generation high performance surfactants for improved chemical flooding technology, focused on reservoirs in the Pennsylvanian-aged (Penn) sands. In order to meet this objective the characteristic curvatures (Cc) of twenty-eight anionic surfactants selected for evaluation for use in chemical flooding formulations were determined. The Cc values ranged from -6.90 to 2.55 with the majority having negative values. Crude oil samples from nine Penn sand reservoirs were analyzed for several properties pertinent to surfactant formulation for EOR application. These properties included equivalent alkane carbon numbers, total acid numbers, and viscosity. The brine samples from these same reservoirs were analyzed for several cations and for total dissolved solids. Surfactant formulations were successfully developed for eight reservoirs by the end of the project period. These formulations were comprised of a tertiary mixture of anionic surfactants. The identities of these surfactants are considered proprietary, but suffice to say the surfactants in each mixture were comprised of varying chemical structures. In addition to the successful development of surfactant formulations for EOR, there were also two successful single-well field tests conducted. There are many aspects that must be considered in the development and implementation of effective surfactant formulations. Taking into account these other aspects, there were four additional studies conducted during this project. These studies focused on the effect of the stability of surfactant formulations in the presence of polymers with an associated examination of polymer rheology, the effect of the presence of iron complexes in the brine on surfactant stability, the potential use of sacrificial agents in order to minimize the loss of surfactant to adsorption, and the effect of electrolytes on surfactant adsorption. In these last four studies the effects of such things as temperature, electrolyte concentration and the effect of different types of electrolytes were taken into consideration