Abstract
Surfactant-based oil recovery processes are employed to lower the interfacial tension in immiscible displacement processes, change the wettability of rock to a more water-wet system and emulsify the oil to displace it in subsurface porous media. Furthermore, these phenomena can reduce the capillary pressure and enhance spontaneous imbibition. The key influencing factors affecting such immiscible displacement process are temperature, salinity and pH of the fluids, surfactant concentration and adsorption. Therefore, before any surfactant flooding process is applied, extensive studies on fluid-fluid and rock-fluid
interactions are needed. The use of other chemicals along with surfactants in chemical enhanced oil recovery (cEOR) processes have been widely considered to exploit the synergy of individual chemicals and complement the weakness arises from each of them during immiscible displacement of fluids in porous media. Therefore, such combinations of chemicals lead to alkaline-surfactant (AS), surfactant- polymer (SP), alkaline-surfactant19 polymer (ASP), and nanoparticles- surfactant (NS) flooding processes, among others. In this review study, we categorised the role and displacement mechanisms of surfactants and discussed the key factors to be considered for analysing the fluid displacement in porous media.
interactions are needed. The use of other chemicals along with surfactants in chemical enhanced oil recovery (cEOR) processes have been widely considered to exploit the synergy of individual chemicals and complement the weakness arises from each of them during immiscible displacement of fluids in porous media. Therefore, such combinations of chemicals lead to alkaline-surfactant (AS), surfactant- polymer (SP), alkaline-surfactant19 polymer (ASP), and nanoparticles- surfactant (NS) flooding processes, among others. In this review study, we categorised the role and displacement mechanisms of surfactants and discussed the key factors to be considered for analysing the fluid displacement in porous media.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1211-1235 |
Number of pages | 25 |
Journal | Petroleum Science |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 27 Nov 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2022 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsThe authors acknowledge the School of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen for providing the required facilities to complete this review study; also, Ahmed Bashir would like to thank the Faculty of Engineering University of Khartoum, Sudan, for the financial support of his studies at the University of Aberdeen.
Keywords
- AS (Alkaline Surfactant) flooding
- ASP (Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer) flooding
- (EOR) Enhanced oil recovery
- IFT (Interfacial tension)
- NS (Nanoparticles-Surfactant) 24 flooding
- Surfactant adsorption
- SP (Surfactant-Polymer) flooding
- Wettability alteration