Synthesis of Sodium Ligno Sulfonate (SLS) Surfactant from Black Liquor Waste and The Potential Test for EOR in Ledok Field Cepu

Abstract

Chemical injection in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) with surfactants is known to reduce the value of Interfacial Tension (IFT) of oil and water which can increase oil mobility. EOR has been considered a promising technology to increase national oil production through the revitalization of existing wells in Indonesia, particularly in the Ledok field, Cepu. This study aims to test core flooding on a laboratory scale with EOR surfactant from biomass waste pulp industry, Black Liquor, from Sodium Lignosulfonate (SLS) on porous sandstone media. SLS is produced from lignin which is isolated from Black Liquor waste. In this study, crude oil from Ledok, Cepu, Central Java was used which was characterized first. To determine the effectiveness of surfactant performance before core flooding, several tests such as water stability test, IFT test, CMC (Critical Miselization Concentration) test, and filtration test have been carried out. For the core flooding test, a 1.5% surfactant concentration is injected continuously at 70°C. The core flooding results show that the compatibility test shows that SLS is compatible with Ledok’s natural formation water. Filtration tests show that SLS using membrane 42 produces larger FR solutions. The core flooding test results showed the best reservoir temperature for SLS surfactants was formulated at 70°C with a recovery of 87%. Therefore, the results show that SLS surfactants show promising results for sandstone media. Important for this research is the hydrodynamic study, studying the correlation flow rate of 4.06 Cm/sec, giving the Reynold value in the best porous medium of 0.3, and the best yield of 75% w/w.