SURFACTANT INJECTION

SURFACTANT INJECTION
General
Objective of surfactant injection is to reduce
interfacial tension between displacing fluid
and oil so that oil recovery will be increased
Displacement efficiency increases with the
reduction of interfacial tension

SURFACTANT INJECTION
General

Parameters controlling surfactant injection

performance:

Pore Geometry
Interfacial Tension
Wettability or contact angle
P or P/L
Surfactant chromatographic transfer characteristics
in a particular system

SURFACTANT INJECTION
General

There are two basic techniques of surfactant

injection to increase oil recovery

Injecting large volume of surfactant (15%-60% PVI)

with low concentration
Injecting small volume of surfactant (3%-20% PVI)
with high concentration

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Technical Issues

Surfactant Slug

Called micellar solutions, microemulsions, soluble oils,

swollen micelles
Objective of slug surfactant is to reduce interfacial
tension and displace oil that can not be displaced by
water alone
Type of slug surfactant: Uniflood, Maraflood
Composition of slug surfactant: oil, surfactant and
cosurfactant (alcohol), water

SURFACTANT INJECTION
General

External Phase

Methods that is used for determining continuous

and disperse phase are fluorescence, conductivity,
phase dilution and dye solubility methods.

SURFACTANT INJECTION
General

External Phase Research:

Huly & Reed (1974)

External Phase effect on final oil saturation (Sof)
External Phase of slug Injection

Sof (%PV)

Water

7.4

Water

Water

11.1

Oil

6.4

Oil

10.6

SURFACTANT INJECTION
General

Mobility Control

Surfactant is displaced by polymer to improve

sweep efficiency
Good design of surfactant-polymer injection is
supposed to recover practically all the oil contacted

SURFACTANT INJECTION
General

Mobility Control

Saturation condition in oil bank would adjust with

reservoir relative permeability
Surfactant slug mobility should be less than the oil
bank mobility
Polymer mobility should be less mobile than slug and
oil bank mobility to get an efficient displacement
Loss of fluid mobility control will cause fingering and
reduced displacement efficiency

SURFACTANT INJECTION
General

Methods in designing mobility of injection:

1.

Using relative permeability data (neglecting Pc)

P
qtb kA

rw ro b
b

qtb

k
= absolute permeability
A = Cross sectional area
[P/ L]
= Lateral pressure gradient across stable bank
rw = relative mobility to water

rw

= stable total flow in bank

= relative mobility to oil

SURFACTANT INJECTION
General

Methods in designing mobility of injection:

2.

Based on injection test in laboratory using

miscible displacing agent

Saturate core with water

Inject core with oil until residual water saturation
reached
Inject core with water until residual oil saturation
reached
From this test, we can get relative permeability data
at residual saturation conditions

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Surfactant Adsorption

Surfactant adsorption can cause the surfactant

retention and slug breakdown
Sulfonates with high equivalent weight will be
adsorbed more than sulfonates with low
equivalent weight
Sulfonates with high equivalent weight are the
effective ones in reducing interfacial tension
Thus losing high sulfonates will decrease
surfactant ability to displace oil

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Surfactant Adsorption

Preflush material to reduce surfactant

adsorption:

NaSiO2 (pH>10)

Na2CO3

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Petroleum Sulfonate
Equivalent weight of a sulfonate is the
molecular weight divided by the number of
sulfonate groups in the molecule
Petroleum sulfonates can have a wide range
of properties
Available in large supply
Relatively low price

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Petroleum Sulfonate

Petroleum sulfonates that are usually used

are mahogany sulfonates (soluble in oil) and
sludge or green acid sulfonates (soluble in
water)

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Petroleum Sulfonate

Criteria for selecting surfactant:

Low oil-water interfacial tension

Low adsorption
Compatible with reservoir fluids
Low cost

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Laboratory Design
A.Laboratory design by Hill et al (Shell, 1973)
1.

Measurement of interfacial tension between crude

oil and aqueous sulfonate (soluble in water):
ow= 2 x 10-4 dn/cm were measured

2.

3.

Microscope screening: rapid evaluation on small

quantities of moving surfactant to detect
qualitatively how fast oil droplet moves on a glass
Displacement test

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Petroleum Sulfonate
B.

Lab design by Marathon (simulating the

reservoir)

Surfactant was made for M-1 Illinois project, in

Robinson refinery and Denver Research Center
Parameters for research are feedstock, additives,
surfactant concentration, pH, sulfonate molecule
cation and cosurfactant type and level

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Petroleum Sulfonate
B.

Marathon

Slug viscosity < 40cp using polyacrylamide as its

mobility buffer
Oil gravity: 36oAPI
Oil viscosity: 5 6 cp @ 72oF
Constant frontal velocity: 0.3 ft/day

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Process Description

Foster (1972) explained low tension water

injection process.

This process consist of 3 slug water injection

with different composition: protective slug
(slug I), surfactant slug (slug II), mobility
control slug (slug III).

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Process Description

Slug I: Protective slug

NaCl and inorganic materials

Objective of Slug I is to screen the low tension
surfactant from salt water or reservoir solid
material exchange (Magnesium and Calcium
exchange with Sodium ionic)
PVI=0.1 or less

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Process Description

Slug II: Surfactant slug

NaCl and inorganic sacrificial chemicals

Containing Petroleum Sulfonate (1 3% weight)
Objective slug II is to reduce water oil interfacial
tension (0.001 dyne/cm)
PVI~0.1

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Process Description

Slug III: Mobility control slug

NaCl (0.2 0.6% weight)

Containing biopolymer (soluble in water) with enough
concentration to that can provide stable condition
behind oil bank

PVI ~ 15 %

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Process Description

Combination of these three slugs were displaced

by reservoir brine water
It would be ideal that the combined volume of
these three slugs equal the oil volume that is
mobilized and produced

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Process Description

Gogarty (Marathon, 1967) Maraflood

Basic concept of secondary and tertiary production

by:
Firstly, injecting micellar solution slug to displace oil
and water
Inject mobility buffer to protect the slug
Finally, drive water is injected to displace slug and
mobility buffer through the reservoir

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Process Description

Gogarty (Marathon, 1967)

Micellar solution slugs contain hydrocarbon,

surfactant, cosurfactant, electrolyte, and water
Micellar solution is displaced through reservoir by
water external emulsion or water containing
polymer.

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Field Operation

Water treatment
Fresh
Water
tank

Filter

Filtered
Water
Tank

pump

Injection
Process

pump
Water
softener

Softened
water tank

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Field Operation

System of Slug Surfactant Mixing

hydrocarbon
Surfactant
Salt Water
mixing slug tank

heater

pump
tank

cosurfactant
filter

Injection
well

pump

tank

SURFACTANT INJECTION
Application

Robinson 779-R Project (Illinois, USA)

Total PV
Average porosity
Average permeability,
Oil saturation

: 1635000
: 19.3%
: 211 md
: 40 %

SURFACTANT INJECTION

The End

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