Effects of Displacement Efficiency of Surfactant Flooding in High Salinity Reservoir: Interfacial Tension, Emulsification, Adsorption

Haiyang YU, Yefei WANG, Yan ZHANG, Peng ZHANG, Wuhua CHEN

Abstract


Surfactant could be used for enhancing oil recovery by enlarging displacement efficiency. The commercial anionic-nonionic polyoxyethylene alkyl sulfonate surfactants (ANS1 & ANS2) were used in high salinity reservoir(277g/L) and the performances were evaluated as well as the affect of salinity on performances in the range of 197g/L to 277g/L was studied. Interfacial tension was one of the most important factors. And the ultra interfacial tension could be obtained in the surfactant ANS1 concentration beyond 0.2% and ANS2 concentration beyond 0.3%. And interfacial tension had the trend of first decreasing and then increasing with increasing salinity. Emulsification can be represented by the unstability index (USI). The emulsification become better with increasing surfactant concentration and was not affected by salinity. The adsorption of surfactant on washed sands was much higher than that on oil sands. At the same time, with salinity increasing the adsorption increased. Displacement efficiency was not the result of single-factor, but was the representative of multi-factor of surfactant. It might be higher with ultra interfacial tension, better emulsification and lower adsorption.
Key words: Key words: Surfactant; Interfacial tension; Emulsification; Adsorption; Displacement efficiency; Salinity

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