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Alkaline/Surfactant Processes: Role of Alkali

The document discusses the role of alkali in alkaline/surfactant processes for enhanced oil recovery. The primary role of alkali is to reduce adsorption of surfactant during displacement through the formation by sequestering divalent ions and allowing formation of soap in situ. This benefits recovery by reducing adsorption and facilitating polymer incorporation into the surfactant slug.

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62 views1 page

Alkaline/Surfactant Processes: Role of Alkali

The document discusses the role of alkali in alkaline/surfactant processes for enhanced oil recovery. The primary role of alkali is to reduce adsorption of surfactant during displacement through the formation by sequestering divalent ions and allowing formation of soap in situ. This benefits recovery by reducing adsorption and facilitating polymer incorporation into the surfactant slug.

Uploaded by

Pondok Huda
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Alkaline/Surfactant Processes: Role of Alkali

Nelson et al. (1984) proposed injection of a solution containing both surfactant and alkali for EOR.
Such processes have attracted and continue to attract considerable interest. They have been labeled
by different names, but will be collectively described here as alkaline/surfactant processes (Nelson
et al. 1984; Peru and Lorenz 1990; Surkalo 1990; Baviere et al. 1995).
The primary role of the alkali in an alkaline/surfactant process is to reduce adsorption of the
surfactant during displacement through the formation and sequestering divalent ions. An additional
benefit of alkali is that the soap is formed in situ from the naphthenic acid in the crude oil (Johnson
1976). As indicated previously, the generation of soap allows the surfactant to be injected at lower
salinities than if used alone, which further reduces adsorption and facilitates incorporation of
polymer in the surfactant slug. Also, alkali can alter formation wettability to reach either more
water-wet or more oil-wet states. In fractured oil-wet reservoirs, the combined effect of alkali and
surfactant in making the matrix preferentially water-wet is essential for an effective process. These
benefits of alkali will occur only where alkali is present. Thus, it is important to determine alkali
consumption, which controls the rate of propagation of alkali through the formation.
Reduced Surfactant Adsorption. The discussion here will be limited to anionic surfactants (Wessen
and Harwell 2000). The primary mechanism for the adsorption of anionic surfactants on sandstoneand carbonate-formation material is the ionic attraction between positively charged mineral sites
and the negative surfactant anion (Tabatabal et al. 1993; Zhang and Somasundaran 2006). Thus, the
role of the alkali is to be a potential-determining ion to reverse the charge on positively charged
mineral sites. The potential-determining ions for oxide minerals are the hydronium and hydroxide
ions. The pH at which the charge reverses is the isoelectric point if measured by electrophoresis
(zeta potential) and is the point-of-zero-charge if determined by titration. The values are
tabulated for most common minerals (Lyklema 1995). Silica is negatively charged at reservoir
conditions and exhibits negligible adsorption of anionic surfactants. Clays (at neutral pH) have
negative charge at the faces and positive charge at the edges. The clay edges are alumina-like and
thus are expected to reverse their charge at a pH of approximately 9. Carbonate formations and
sandstone-cementing material can be calcite or dolomite. These latter minerals also have an
isoelectric point of approximately pH 9, but carbonate ions, as well as the calcium and magnesium
ions, are more significant potential-determining ions. The zeta potential of calcite is negative even at
neutral pH in the presence of 0.1 N carbonate/bicarbonate ions (Hirasaki and Zhang 2004). If a
formation contains iron minerals, the oxidation/reduction conditions influence whether the surface
iron sites are Fe3+ or Fe2+. Adsorption of anionic surfactant for one sandstone was found to be
lower by more than a factor of two for reducing rather than for oxidizing conditions (Wang 1993).
Surfactant adsorption is only one component of surfactant retention. Phase trapping of surfactant
can be more significant and will be discussed later.

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