Experimental Investigation Used of Albizia Julibrissin Extract as a Plant Surfactant on Oil Recovery

Abstract

In recent years, the use of natural surfactants as surface active agents in chemical methods of oil recovery over chemical surfactants has been under consideration due to the absence of environmental problems. In this study, a new plant, Albizia julibressin (Albizia), was introduced as a natural surfactant. Our novelty resides in a unified approach that deals with the introduction of Albizia julibressin (Albizia) as a new natural surfactant, interpretation of the chemical EOR objectives, interface reactions, and the induced optimization to improve oil recovery. For this purpose, the plant was extracted using Soxhlet extraction method, aqueous base solutions and interfacial tension between natural surfactant aqueous solutions and kerosene as an oil phase were measured by pendant drop method. The critical micelle concentration structures formed by this material has been determined by interfacial tension tests and confirmed by electrical conductivity tests. The results show that Albizia extract at 3.5 wt% begins to form micelles structures, which is the critical concentration of Albizia plant micelles. At this concentration, the interfacial tension between the deionized water and the oil phase is reduced from 34 mN /m to 10 mN/m, which indicates a significant decrease in interfacial tension by this plant. Carbonate rock was employed to core flooding experiments in order to investigate the effect of Albizia extract (AE) on oil recovery. Also based on results, by using AE, wettability of oil-wet carbonate rocks, was altered from about 165.02◦ to 86.59◦. Finally, AE enhanced ultimate oil recovery about 11.6% of original oil in place in tertiary recovery for a carbonate rock.