Experimental study of enhanced oil recovery by surfactants using core flooding

Abstract

Viscous and capillary forces are main cause of un-swept oil remaining in the pores of the reservoir after two stages of recovery i.e. (primary and secondary). Proper application of EOR technique can enhance the life of reservoir. Surfactants are specially prepared chemicals which reduce the interfacial tension or surface tension between fluids. The objective of this thesis is to select the surfactant which gives maximum recovery in core flooding experiments. Different porosity core samples were prepared artificially, using cement and sand in the laboratory and saturated with diesel in manual saturator apparatus. Surfactant flooding experiments were conducted using five different surfactants i.e. (Lutensol TO-3, Lutensol XP-50, Lutensol XL-70, SLS, SLES). After collecting the data from experiments the graphs of comparison of oil recovery for different porosity samples with base case i.e., water flooding is presented. From experimental results it shows that all five surfactants which I have used in my core flooding experiments, give an increase in recovery than water flooding. The experimental results show that up to 78% of OIIP can be extracted. Lutensol TO-3 give maximum recovery for low porosity core sample i.e., about 20% more than water drive. Sodium Lauryle Ether Sulphate (SLES) give maximum recovery for high porosity core sample i.e., about 23% more than water flooding. From these five surfactants Sodium Lauryle Ether Sulphate (SLES) (Anionic) will be selected for maximum recovery of the reservoir for this Chemical EOR.