Novel Nonylphenol Polyethoxylated Based Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery for High-Mineralization Carbonate Reservoir

Emil R Saifullin,Dmitrii A Zharkov,Alexey O Bykov,Roman S Pavelyev,Lucia Akimushkina,Sergey A Nazarychev,Aleksei O Malahov,Polina O Putintseva,Rustam N Sagirov,Chengdong Yuan,Ulukbek Mirzakimov,Mikhail A Varfolomeev

doi:10.3390/en15030961

Emil R Saifullin, Dmitrii A Zharkov + Show 10 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/en15030961

Copy DOI

Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Jan 28, 2022
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Kazan Federal University

Abstract

Surfactant flooding can mobilize trapped oil and change the wettability of the rock to be more hydrophilic, which increases the oil recovery factor. However, the selection of surfactants is difficult in the case of high salinity conditions. In this work, we synthesized three novel anionic-nonionic surfactants based on widely used nonionic surfactant nonylphenol polyethoxylated (NPEO) and evaluated their efficiencies for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in high salinity water (20% NaCl). The modified surfactants showed a decrease in interfacial tension (IFT) up to 10 times compared with the nonionic precursor. All surfactants had changed the wettability of rock to be more hydrophilic according to contact angle measurements. The effectiveness of surfactants was proved by spontaneous imbibition experiments, in which the synthesized surfactants showed a better displacement efficiency and increased oil production by 1.5–2 times. Filtration experiments showed an increase in oil recovery factor by 2–2.5 times in comparison with the nonionic NPEO. These promising results prove that the synthesis of new surfactants by modifying NPEO is successful and indicate that these novel surfactants have a great potential for EOR in high salinity reservoirs.

Highlights

The use of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods can extend the production lifetime of mature oilfields in traditional production regions as the oil reservoir becomes depleted and more difficult to recover [1,2]
The core samples were kept in the Amott cells with surfactant solution until there was no oil displacement within 2 days.The best result was shown by NP6EO–SC, while the worst was shown by the nonionic precursor NP6EO (Figure 6)
Three anionic–nonionic surfactants were synthesized based on nonionic nonylphenol polyethoxylated (NPEO) for high-salinity conditions

Summary

Introduction

The use of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods can extend the production lifetime of mature oilfields in traditional production regions as the oil reservoir becomes depleted and more difficult to recover [1,2]. Nonylphenol polyethoxylated (NPEO) are nonionic surfactants that are widely used in manufacturing antioxidants, lubricating oil additives, laundry and detergents, emulsifiers, and solubilizers [27], as well as in EOR applications [28]. They were tested under harsh conditions (high salinity and temperature) in conjunction with a cationic surfactant [29]. Modification of NPEO by ionic groups can improve surfactant activity that helps to decrease the oil/water IFT and change wettability, and increasing oil recovery. In this work, based on NPEO, we tried to synthesize anionic–nonionic surfactant that will be compatible with highly mineralized formation waters and show high interfacial activity. Aasfteelrutehnet)c.oAmfptelerttiohne coofmthpeleretiaocntioonf ,tthheerseoalcvteionnt ,wthase esvoalvpeonrat twedasunevdaeproreradtuecdedunpdreesrsruerdeuinceadrportaersysuerveaipnoraartoor-. tTahrye reevsaipdouraaltomra. tTehriealrewsiadsuwalamshaetderiwalitwh ahsewxaanseh,etdhewnitdhrhieedxaunned, ethr evnacduruiemd uinndaerrovtaarcyuevuampoinraatorrottoaroybetvaianpporaaletoyretloloowbtvaiisncopuaslemyaetleloriwalvNisPc6oEuOs m–SaCte. rial NP6EO–SC

Synthesis of NP6EO–CN

Evaluation of the Surfactants

CMC Determination

Wettability Alteration

Amott Cells

Filtration Experiments

Conclusions