Adsorption behaviors of surfactants for chemical flooding in enhanced oil recovery

Abstract

In this work, we investigated fundamental interfacial tension properties and adsorption behaviors of four surfactant candidates for the chemical flooding. For interfacial tension properties, we measured the surfactants' critical micelle concentration (CMC) in brine solution and interfacial tension (IFT) values with model oil phases. For adsorption behaviors, we determined an adsorption equilibrium time and adsorption isotherms, which were analyzed by the Langmuir and the Freundlich models. Through integrating the results of interfacial tension properties and adsorption behaviors, dodecylbenzenesulfonate was found to be the most appropriate candidate because of less adsorption amount (mg/g adsorbent) and minimum interfacial tension among the tested. (C) 2014 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.