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Utilization of Surfactant Flooding

Processes for Enhanced Oil Recovery
(EOR)
a a a
A. Demirbas , H. E. Alsulami & W. S. Hassanein
a
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, King
Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Published online: 17 Aug 2015.

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To cite this article: A. Demirbas, H. E. Alsulami & W. S. Hassanein (2015) Utilization of Surfactant
Flooding Processes for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), Petroleum Science and Technology, 33:12,
1331-1339, DOI: 10.1080/10916466.2015.1060503

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 Petroleum Science and Technology, 33:1331–1339, 2015
Copyright 
C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1091-6466 print / 1532-2459 online
DOI: 10.1080/10916466.2015.1060503

Utilization of Surfactant Flooding Processes for Enhanced Oil

Recovery (EOR)

A. Demirbas,1 H. E. Alsulami,1 and W. S. Hassanein1

Downloaded by [University of Tennessee, Knoxville] at 11:06 18 August 2015

1
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, King Abdulaziz University,
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Surfactant flooding is a well-known enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique that has been used worldwide
for decades. The surfactant can meaningful lower interfacial tension and change the wetting properties.
Surfactant related recovery processes are of increasing interest and importance because of high oil
prices and the urge to meet energy demand. The water flooding methods include chemical flooding and
low-salinity water (LSW) flooding. Chemical flooding methods have been developed to recover residual
oil trapped after conventional oil recovery is getting important recovery. The LSW flooding includes
injecting brine with a lower content of salt or ionic strength. Water flooding improves oil recovery by
displacing oil, and injection water is usually taken from the nearest available source. The injected alkali
and surfactant, so that the interfacial tension between oil and water is lowered and thus residual oil can
move. There is a relationship among chemical EOR efficiency and fluid viscosity, relative permeability,
interfacial tension, wettability, and capillary pressure. The polymer increases the viscosity of the flooding
water, reduces water mobility, and thus greatly reduces oil flow ratio so to reduce water flooding fingering,
improve horizontal and microscopic pore structure reservoir heterogeneity condition, relieve channeling
flow around other phenomena, and increase the flooding swept volume of water.
Keywords: surfactant flooding, chemical flooding, low salinity, polymer flooding, alkali flooding

INTRODUCTION

Oil is the most widely (80% of total energy use) used source of fossil energy (oil, coal, and natural
gas). Fossil energy sources are stocks of energy that have formed during ancient geologic ages (about
250 million years ago). Unfortunately, we are faced with the danger of short supply of petroleum
oil. Petroleum-based fuels, the world’s limited reserves, are concentrated in certain regions and
shortening every day (Demirbas, 2000, 2002, 2015).
Crude oil production, extraction, and recovery is performed in three stages: (a) primary oil
production, (b) secondary oil production, and (c) enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Traditionally oil
production strategies are primary, secondary and tertiary recovery processes (Samanta et al., 2001).
The EOR processes promise to recover a significant portion of the remaining oil after conventional
methods (Green and Willhite, 1998). The EOR application of various techniques for increasing the
amount of crude oil in the oil field can be obtained. The EOR is the process extraction and removal
of usable oil from the Earth.

Address correspondence to A. Demirbas, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, King Abdulaziz
University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. E-mail: ayhandemirbas@hotmail.com

1331
 1332 A. DEMIRBAS ET AL.

Primary oil production (recovery by depletion) is the first method of oil from a well. A crude oil
reservoir contains a mixture of water, oil and gas. Secondary oil production (recovery by water or
gas flooding) is conventional production methods, which involve the injection of gas and/or water
into the reservoir. In two-thirds of the crude oil remains in the reservoirs after primary and secondary
recovery processes (Rosen et al., 2005). The EOR is required for the remaining oil is trapped in the
porous structure of reservoir.
The EOR is also called recovery of the residual oil (tertiary recovery). The EOR includes thermal
recovery, gas injection, and waterflooding techniques. Using the EOR, 60% or more of original oil
can be recovered from reservoir, compared with 40% using primary and secondary methods.
Thermal injection is steam injection, steam flooding and fire flooding. Steam flooding water
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injection is a method for introducing a similar pattern of steam into the well by pumping the heat
store (Liu et al., 2014). At the end of the oil vapor expands oil evaporates in the steam and hot water
in the hot water condenses and rises upwards (Figure 1). Thermal methods are mostly applied for
reservoirs containing heavy oils and bitumen. The compositions in these reservoirs contain larger
proportions of asphaltenes, which makes the oil particularly viscous (Behrens, 2013). Fire generates
the heat in the reservoir. High oil saturation and porosity that works in the best way fire flooding.
Fire flooding includes dry advanced, reverse, and wet combustion.
Miscible gas injection or flooding can be still used as the most common approaches in EOR. Gas
or air injected into reservoirs to increase the pressure and maintain recovery rate (Behrens, 2013).
This allows for total displacement efficiency. Natural gas, nitrogen, or carbon dioxide are generally
use in gas injection method (Wan and Shena, 2015).

FIGURE 1 Oil production by thermal steam flooding (steam injection) process.

 UTILIZATION OF SURFACTANT FLOODING PROCESSES FOR EOR 1333

The water flooding methods include chemical flooding and low-salinity water (LSW) flooding
(Liu et al., 2005). Chemical flood recovery after traditional methods has been developed to recover
residual oil trapped by the recovery of oil (Rai et al., 2015). Chemical flooding is a tertiary oil recovery
method that includes injection of chemicals mainly alkali or polymer into the oil reservoirs. The aim
of chemical flooding is to recover additional oil from the oil reservoirs after primary and secondary
recovery processes. The LSW flooding provides a lower salt content or the ionic strength of the
brine to be injected. Water flooding is the most widely applied method of improved oil recovery.
Water flooding improves oil recovery by displacing oil, and injection water is usually taken from
the nearest available source. The LSW flooding contributes to increased oil recovery. LSW flooding
has recently attracted considerable interest from governments, researchers, and oil companies.
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Planning for enhancing oil production strategies using EOR is one of the most critical industrial
problems. Various EOR processes have been developed to recover some portion of the remaining
oil. The alkali and surfactant substances can reduce interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water,
thereby mobilizing the residual oil. The polymers used to viscosity an aqueous solution for motion
control (Green and Willhite, 1998; Sharma et al., 2014).

FLOODING OF SURFACTANT IN EOR

A chemical EOR flood uses two sources of surfactant and a polymer. Chemical flooding is one
of the most important EOR methods developed in the last 60 years, and that covers alkaline,
alkali-surfactant, and alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding techniques (Samanta et al., 2001).
Surfactant flooding is a well-known EOR technique that has been used worldwide for decades.
The EOR is increasingly being applied in the oil industry and emerged during several different
technologies are applied in the last 10 years to optimize oil recovery after traditional recovery
methods (Taylor and Schramm, 1990; Zhao et al., 2005; Sandersen, 2012; Li and Chen, 2014).
The term surfactant comes from short for surface-active-agent that is utilized to diminish the IFT
between two different phases such as two liquids or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants are
considered as good EOR substances since 1970s because they can meaningfully reduce the IFTs and
change wetting characteristics (Cayias et al., 1977). In general, surfactants are generally classified
into four main groups: anionic, cationic, nonionic, and zwitterionic (or amphoteric; Wang et al.,
2009; Wang and Miller, 2013).
Ionic surfactants are those having a positively or negatively charged organic tail head. Cationic
surfactants are positively charged and the negative charge is often referred to as anionic surfactant.
Nonionic surfactants are not charged at all (Li et al., 2010a).
A surfactant for each molecule has approximately equal proportions between polar and nonpolar
parts. When placed in an oil-water system, polar side or to direct attention toward the water and
nonpolar side are directed toward the oil. The surfactant molecule reduces the surface tension
between oil and water phases.
The term surface is used to designate the condensed phase boundary between a condensed phase
and a gas phase, whereas the word interface is used for the boundary between two condensed phases.
Surfactant related recovery processes are of increasing interest and importance because of high oil
prices and the urge to meet energy demand.
Nonionic surfactants artificially synthesized by ethoxylation for industrial processes, the chemical
process, wherein the ethylene oxide is reacted with alcohols in the reaction. (Eqs. [1] and [2]),
ethoxylate surfactant is obtained from fatty acids and phenols.
ROH + nC2 H4 O → R(OC2 H4 )n OH (1)
R(OC2 H4 )n OH + HSO3 Cl → R(OC2 H4 )n OSO3 H + HCl (2)
 1334 A. DEMIRBAS ET AL.

Surface active agents are organic substances including both a hydrophobic side and hydrophilic
side. Hydrophobic side of molecule is pulled by water, which means it repels water and hydrophilic
side of molecule is pulled toward water and tend to dissolve in water. So when surfactant is dissolved
in water, hydrophobic side of molecule and hydrophilic side of molecule enable to form different
structures as they are having different reactions toward the water. The surfactant compounds also
act as an emulsifier.
The surfactant release trap creates favorable conditions for spending oil movement phase behavior
of surfactant and cosurfactant in the reservoir can be manipulated by injection of the surface active
substance, which is a EOR process (Sandersen, 2012).
The surfactant can lower the surface tension between the low-salinity water and residual oil. The
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use of appropriate surfactant can effectively decrease the IFT, resulting in a corresponding increase
in the capillarity (Berger and Lee, 2006). The accomplishment of surfactant flooding depends on
many variables such as formulation, costs of chemicals and surfactants, availability of market, and
oil prices. In EOR, surface active agents can be used in several mixtures to enhance oil production
(Samanta et al., 2001). Some of these mixtures are surfactant-alkali, surfactant-polymer, and alkali-
surfactant-polymer floodings (Elraies et al., 2011).
The chemical EOR efficiency is a function of viscosity, IFTs, wettabilities, relative permeabilities,
and pressure of capillary (Liu, 2008). The capillarity (Nc ) is a function of the Darcy velocity (v),
the viscosity (μ) of the mobile aqueous phase, and the high IFT (σ ) between the aqueous and the
trapped oil phase (Berger and Lee, 2006). The relationship of Darcy velocity, viscosity and IFT to
the capillary number is given in Eq. (3).

Nc = vμ/σ (3)

Equation (3) reduces the trapped oil saturation by increasing the capillarity, and residual oil
saturation of low numbers in nonwetting and capillary wetting state is roughly constant. It starts to
decrease residual oil saturation above a certain capillarity.
In this case, residual oil fraction is small, because the number indicates that the water absorbent
is useful for high recovery efficiency. Capillarity must be increased in order to lower the residual oil
saturation. The most logical way to increase the capillarity is to decrease the IFT (Berger and Lee,
2006; Liu, 2008). Therefore, the main purpose of the chemical process is to reduce the IFT so that
the recovery capacity will be improved.

POLYMER FLOODING IN EOR

Polymer flooding after water flooding has become an effective method to develop conventional oil
reservoirs (Pi et al., 2014). In the polymer flooding process mixing of long chain polymer molecules
is injected water in order to increase the water viscosity. Polymer flooding surfactants lower the IFT
between the residual oil and viscose water phase (Qu et al., 2013). Polymer flooding to increase the
effective mobility rate can increase the viscosity of the fluid displacement, not only significantly
improves oil recovery, but it provides good economic benefits. The oil recovery flooding includes
natural energy flooding, water flooding, polymer flooding and water flooding (Wang et al., 2007;
Zhang et al., 2010). Due to technical and economic considerations polymer flooding is recently it
preferred regarded as a tertiary oil recovery method.
Development factors include polymer dosage, injection speed, injection concentration, water cut
before polymer injection, polymer injection before oil saturation, and well spacing, which all have
an impact on the impact on the recovery. Simulation results show that the polymer dosage, injection
concentration, polymer injection before the water cut greater impact on the recovery (Qu et al.,
2013). Table 1 shows types of surfactant flooding.
 UTILIZATION OF SURFACTANT FLOODING PROCESSES FOR EOR 1335

TABLE 1
Types of Surfactant Flooding

Role in Enhanced Oil Recovery

Type of Flooding Product (EOR) Some of Impacts

Surfactant flooding (general) Surfactant flooding is a well-known
EOR technique which has been
used worldwide for decades.
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Anionic surfactant is the most
common type of surfactant,
whereas it is expensive to produce
cationic surfactant due to which it
is not used as commonly as

Chemical flooding (CF) (general)
Alkaline-surfactant-polymer (ASP)
flooding
Low-salinity water flooding (LSWF)
Polymer flooding (PF)
Microemulsion flooding
Alkali added flooding
Supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCD)
is effective in reservoirs deeper
than 700 m.
CF is one of the most successful
methods to EOR from depleted
reservoirs at low pressure.
The ASP reduces the IFT at
significantly lower concentrations.
LSWF contributes to increased oil
recovery from the nearest available
source.
PF can increase the viscosity of fluid,
improve the mobility ratio, not
only significantly improves oil
recovery.
Surfactants, cosurfactants, alcohol,
and brine are injected into the
reservoir to form microemulsions
to obtain ultra-low IFT.
Alkali reduces adsorption of the
surfactant on the rock surfaces and
reacts with acids in the oil to
create natural surfactant.
SCCD miscible method is
particularly effective in reservoirs
deeper than 700 m.
anionic surfactant.
CF is only marginally economical, or
in most cases directly
uneconomical.
Lower concentration of surfactants is
involved in this process, which
reduces the cost of chemicals.
The brine may contain toxic heavy
metals and radioactive substances.
This can be very damaging to
drinking water sources.
Due to technical and economic
considerations polymer flooding is
currently considered as the
preferred tertiary oil recovery
technique.
Can be designed to perform well in
high temperature or salinity or
low-permeable areas where
polymer and/or alkali cannot work.
Sodium hydroxide provides reducing
the surface tension, reversing the
rock wettability, oil emulsification,
and mobilization of the oil, and
helps in drawing the oil out of the
rock.
Carbon dioxide miscible flooding on
a large scale is expected to make
the greatest contribution to
miscible EOR in the future.

Polymer flooding in EOR can be used as the following basic principles of points: the polymer
increases the viscosity of the flooding water, reduces water mobility, and thus greatly reduces oil flow
ratio in order to reduce water flooding fingering, improve horizontal and microscopic pore structure
reservoir heterogeneity condition, relieve channeling flow around other phenomena, and increase
flooding swept volume of water (Qiao et al., 2012). Improving the flooding water distribution ratio
between the vertical reservoir, adjusting water injection profile, and enhancing positive rhythm low-
permeability layer and the upper parts of the sedimentary layer of water absorption capacity thus
slow the water along the high permeability layer inroads phenomenon and improve flooding swept
volume of water (Feng et al., 2013; Mohammad et al., 2013; Wang and Miller, 2013). The polymer
improves the sweep efficiency. A polymer is a very effective additional material, thereby increasing
the sweep efficiency increased water mobility control the viscosity of water. Polymer flooding, using
 1336 A. DEMIRBAS ET AL.

TABLE 2
Key Terminology and Mechanisms for Enhanced Oil Recovery

– Enhanced oil recovery (EOR)

– Surfactant flooding
– Chemical flooding
– Low-salinity water flooding (LSWF)
– Polymer flooding
– Alkaline-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding
– Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR or Microb-flood)
– Capillary number
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– Darcy velocity
– Viscosity of the moving the aqueous phase
– Interfacial tension (IFT)
– Interfacial forces alteration
– Surface tension
– Reducing oil mobility ratio
– Wettability alteration
– Porosity and permeability modification
– Oil solubilization
– Emulsification
– Dispersed phase and phase inversion
– Recover the trapped oil
– Improve sweep efficiency
– Eliminate or reduce the capillary and interfacial forces
– Improve sweep efficiency
– Efficiency of the chemical EOR
– Capillary pressure
– Reservoir rock

polyacrylamides or polyaccarides, is a conceptually simple and inexpensive method (Wang et al.,

2013). Table 2 shows key terminology and mechanisms for enhanced oil recovery.
Polymer adsorption in porous reservoir of polymer flooding occurred during one of the important
physical and chemical phenomena. Model uses the traditional Langmuir isotherm to describe it
(Qu et al., 2013):

aCp
Cp = (4)
1 + bCp

where CP is concentration of polymer adsorption, a is the characterization of ion exchange and

adsorption capacity of the size of the parameter, and b is adsorption constant.
Alkali-surfactant-polymer flooding can allow operators to extend reservoir pool life and extract
incremental reserves recently inaccessible by conventional EOR methods such as waterflooding (Jia
et al., 2005). Chemical surfactants use to decrease the IFT between liquid and liquid phase, making
the immobile oil mobile (Touhami et al., 1998; Bryan et al., 2008). Alkali decreases adsorption of the
surfactant on the solid surfaces and reacts with acidic substances in the oil to form new surfactant.
The alkali-surfactant-polymer flooding of EOR fluid flow mechanism in porous media installed
vertically heterogeneous reservoir with a differential pressure transducer and saturation measurement
sensors in the physical model depends on production performance, pressure, and saturation distri-
butions (Wang et al., 2011). Increasing the volume and alkali-surfactant-polymer flooding sweep
efficiency and displacement in the high-permeability layers at low- and medium-permeability layers
involves no residual oil, but changing oil only at the same time remaining.
 UTILIZATION OF SURFACTANT FLOODING PROCESSES FOR EOR 1337

OTHER EOR METHODS

Naturally occurring organic acids in the oil, enough to cause the soap, could reduce the IFT with the oil
reservoir into the production in order to increase the production of alkaline solutions injection (Bryan
and Kantzas, 2009). Alkali flooding occurs with addition of sodium hydroxide to injection water. It
provides a role in reducing the surface tension; reversing the solid wettability, oil emulsification, and
mobilization of the oil; and helping to draw the oil out of the solid phase (Zhao et al., 2006; Dong
et al., 2008). Effect of costic on IFT between dense alkylbenzene sulfonate and acid-free diesel oil
has been also investigated (Li et al., 2010b; Hou et al., 2011).
Supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCD) miscible method is particularly effective in reservoirs deeper
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than 700 m. In high-pressure applications with less dense oils, SCCD is miscible with the oil, with
resultant swelling of the oil, and decrease in viscosity, and with a decrease in the surface tension with
the reservoir rock (Ding et al., 2014). Carbon dioxide miscible flooding on a large scale is expected
to make the greatest contribution to miscible EOR in the future.
Microbial EOR (MEOR) is used in EOR from reservoir rock by microbial biosurfactants and
biopolymers and is injected into the aqueous phase and surface tension between oil reservoir rocks
and intermediate capable to reduce the surface tension (Lazar et al., 2007; Amani, 2015). The phase
inversion rate between the water and oil dispersions depends on capillary mixer velocity (Ioannou
et al., 2005). This method has the potential to be cost efficient in the recovery of oil from trapped in
capillary pores of the formation rock. MEOR injection method is part of MEOR and is uncommonly
used because of its higher cost and the developments is not widely accepted (Lazar, 1998).

CONCLUSION

After primary and secondary production, residual oil can be classified into first residual oil to the
water flood and second oil bypassed by the water flood. Residual oil mainly includes capillary
trapped oil. One-way of extracting this trapped oil is by adding surfactant and alkaline to water.
Surfactants can be accepted for EOR by decreasing of oil-water IFT (IFT). The surfactant
substances decrease the IFT between oil and water phases. Polymers are used to viscosity the water
for mobility control. Polymer flooding surfactants reduce the IFT between the oil and aqueous
phase. Polymer flooding can increase the viscosity of displacement fluid, effectively improving the
mobility ratio, and not only significantly improves oil recovery, but also provides good economic
benefits. Due to technical and economic considerations polymer flooding is currently considered as
the preferred EOR method.
Some EOR applications are often limited by the cost of the chemicals and their adsorption and
loss onto the rock of the oil containing formation.

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