Solubilization of Crude Oil by Extended and Other Anionic Surfactants

Abstract

In the present study, the solubilization efficiency of an Algerian crude oil in the presence of three different anionic surfactants was investigated. The studied surfactants are extended surfactant sodium linear alkyl-polypropylene oxide-polyoxyethylene sulfate (X-AES), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS). The three crude oil/surfactant systems were characterized in terms of micelle–water partition coefficient (K m ) and weight concentration of solubilizate named weight solubilization ratio (WSR). The obtained results showed that the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of X-AES determined experimentally is lower than that of SDS and SDBS. The experiments show that X-AES is better than SDS and SDBS in terms of efficacy of solubilization. The order of solubilization improvement of the crude oil is SDS < SDBS < X-AES, and the extent of solubilized oil is linearly proportional to the surfactant concentration.