Abstract
Alternating water/carbon dioxide flooding has proven to be an efficient method of improved oil recovery but is often economically unfeasible for small CO2 sources. A similar beneficial effect can be achieved through an injection of CO2 in water emulsions, stabilized by low molecular-weight emulsifying agents with additional affinity for the oil-water interface. To investigate the possibilities of such an approach, we have performed molecular dynamics simulations to study the impact of N-formyl morpho-line (NFM) surfactant on the behavior of near-supercritical CO2/water/oil system at T = 300 K and P=100 Atm. Our simulations showed that NFM tended to adsorb on both water-CO2 and oil-water interfaces, indicating its strong dual affinity. Analysis of molecular orientations revealed that the aromatic part of hydrocarbons exhibited a strong orientational preference in the vicinity of the oil-water interface in an NFM-free system. However, the introduction of NFM appeared to disrupt the ordering of aromatics. The consequence of this phenomena may significantly affect the transport properties across and along the oil-water interface.
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