Experimental Evaluation of Surfactant Application to Improve Oil Recovery

View/ Open
Issue Date
2011-09-16Author
Liu, Zhijun
Publisher
University of Kansas
Format
272 pages
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
M.S.
Discipline
Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
Rights
This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The objective of this research was to identify high performance surfactant formulations and design efficient core floods for a limestone reservoir with high salinity formation brine. Microemulsion phase behavior experiments were conducted to identify best chemicals formulation (including surfactants, alcohol, alkali, polymer and electrolyte) for core flood test. A successful formulation should be one clear stable phase at reservoir conditions, fluid microemulsion phase, fast equilibration and high solubilization ratio. Formulations with glycol ether alcohols were easier to achieve one clear stable phase than formulations with sec-butanol. Primary surfactant-to-cosurfactant ratio and alcohol concentration were fine tuned to obtain fluid microemulsion phase and sufficiently high solubilization ratio. Core floods with optimized formulation validated its high oil recovery efficiency (95-99%) in Berea sandstone cores with synthetic formation brine. The effect of surfactant slug size, surfactant slug/polymer drive viscosity and formation brine composition was discussed to design more efficient core flood. The properties of the aqueous phase from chemical flood, e.g. total dissolved solids, viscosity and pH were measured to help understand oil displacement process in the core during the chemical flood. Core floods in Indiana limestone cores yielded low oil recovery (27-41%) suffering from large dispersion of the core. Recommendations were made to improve oil recovery on future limestone core floods and field application.
Collections
- Engineering Dissertations and Theses [1055]
- Theses [3901]
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.