This book provides an introduction to the nature, occurrence, physical properties, propagation, and uses of surfactants in the petroleum industry. The primary focus is on applications of the principles of colloid and interface science to surfactant applications in the petroleum industry, and includes attention to practical processes and problems. Books available up to now are either principally theoretical (such as the colloid chemistry texts), much more general (like Rosen's Surfactants and Interfacial Phenomena, Myers' Surfactant Science and Technology, or Mittal's Solution Chemistry of Surfactants), or else much narrower in scope (like Smith's Surfactant Based Mobility Control). The applications of surfactants in the petroleum industry area are quite diverse and have a great practical importance. The area contains a number of problems of more fundamental interest as well. Surfactants may be applied to advantage in many parts of the petroleum production process: in reservoirs, in oilwells, in surface processing operations, and in environmental, health, and safety applications. In each case appropriate knowledge and practices determine both the economic and technical successes of the industrial process concerned.

In this volume, a wide range of authors' expertise and experiences are brought together to yield the first surfactant book that focuses on the applications of surfactants in the petroleum industry. Taking advantage of a broad range of authors' expertise allows for a variety of surfactant technology application areas to be highlighted in an authoritative manner.