Abstract
Alcohol additives were found to improve alkaline flood performance under certain conditions. Only crude oils that emulsified during alkaline flooding were more efficiently recovered with alcohol. Improved recovery with alcohol was attributed to modification of emulsion characteristics. Alcohol additives reduced emulsion viscosities and accelerated emulsion coalescence rates, which improved oil bank stability and promoted oil recovery. Oil recovery efficiency was affected by the chemical structure of the alcohol. Oil recovery generally improved with increasing molecular weight from methanol to butanol and then decreased for the less water soluble pentanol isomers. Alcohol additives were found to affect the interfacial shear viscosities (IFSV) and interfacial tensions (IFT) of crude oil/alkaline water systems. Improvements in recovery efficiency was found to correspond directly to reduced IFSV. Poor recovery was also related to elevated interfacial tensions.
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