Title: Investigation on surfactant desorption isotherm to enhance oil spontaneous recovery in a low permeability core

Authors: Ichhuy Ngo; Ronald Nguele; Yuichi Sugai; Kyuro Sasaki

Addresses: School of Mines, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China; Resources Production and Safety Engineering Laboratory, Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan ' Resources Production and Safety Engineering Laboratory, Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan ' Resources Production and Safety Engineering Laboratory, Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan ' Resources Production and Safety Engineering Laboratory, Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan

Abstract: Surfactant enhanced oil recovery depends on the interfacial tension (IFT) reduction and wettability alteration in the rock/oil/brine system. An adequate amount of surfactant within the system is vital during the application. The aforementioned problem becomes more sensitive in a low permeability formation when the adsorption is much higher than the desorption. This study, therefore, investigated the surfactant desorption isotherm using sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) as a surfactant and tight Berea sandstone as adsorbent. The desorption of SDBS was found to follow a Langmuir type isotherm. Owing to the Langmuir characteristics, the desorption increased up to four folds by reducing the salinity of the process water from 3 wt.% to 1 wt.%. The study was extended in a spontaneous imbibition tests for oil recovery. The desorbed SDBS enables an increase in total oil recovery by 2%. The results were subsequent to a more favourable IFT and a mitigation in the narrow-pore blockage. [Received: March 21, 2020; Accepted: October 12, 2020]

Keywords: surfactant adsorption; surfactant desorption; enhanced oil recovery; EOR; spontaneous imbibition; Langmuir isotherm; sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate; SDBS; low permeability; Berea sandstone; surfactant precipitation; pore blockage.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2021.118808

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2021 Vol.28 No.4, pp.421 - 441

Received: 21 Mar 2020
Accepted: 12 Oct 2020
Published online: 08 Nov 2021 *

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