Abstract
Lauryl betaine (LB) as an amphoteric surfactant carries both positive and negative charges and should be able to generate stable foam through electrostatic interaction with nanoparticles and co-surfactants. However, no previous attempts have been made to investigate the influence of nanoparticles and other co-surfactants on the stability and apparent viscosity of LB-stabilized foam. In this study, a thorough investigation on the influence of silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanoparticles, alpha olefin sulfonate (AOS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), on foam stability and apparent viscosity was carried out. The experiments were conducted with the 2D Hele-Shaw cell at high foam qualities (80%–98%). Influence of AOS on the interaction between the LB foam and oil was also investigated. Results showed that the SiO2-LB foam apparent viscosity decreased with increasing surfactant concentration from 0.1 wt% to 0.3 wt%. 0.1 wt% SiO2 was the optimum concentration and increased the 0.1 wt% LB foam stability by 108.65% at 96% foam quality. In the presence of co-surfactants, the most stable foam, with the highest apparent viscosity, was generated by AOS/LB solution at a ratio of 9:1. The emulsified crude oil did not imbibe into AOS-LB foam lamellae. Instead, oil was redirected into the plateau borders where the accumulated oil drops delayed the rate of film thinning, bubble coalescence and coarsening.
Highlights
Gas flooding has been proposed as a promising technology to enhance oil recovery, and to reduce carbon emissions
The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the lauryl betaine (LB) was obtained as 0.6 wt%, that of alpha olefin sulfonate (AOS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were obtained as approximately 0.1 wt% and 0.2 wt%, respectively
The purpose is to identify the best conditions for optimum utilization of LB surfactant for foam generation and stabilization at representative porous medium (2D Hele-Shaw cell) and high foam qualities
Summary
Gas flooding has been proposed as a promising technology to enhance oil recovery, and to reduce carbon emissions. The potential application of foam for enhanced oil recovery is promising, the field application is still limited by the instability of the thin liquid film at the bubble’s interfaces. Surface active agents, such as surfactants, have been used as the foam generating and stabilizing agents for several decades. Surfactant-stabilized foams are unstable at reservoir conditions of high temperature and in the presence of resident oil and brine in the reservoir (Yekeen et al 2017b). The development of low-cost and environmentally friendly chemical formulations, for generation of stable
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