Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- SURFACTANT FUNDAMENTALS
- SURFACTANTS IN POROUS MEDIA
- 4 Surfactant Adsorption in Porous Media
- 5 Surfactant Induced Wettability Alteration in Porous Media
- 6 Surfactant Flooding in Enhanced Oil Recovery
- 7 Scale-Up Evaluations and Simulations of Mobility Control Foams for Improved Oil Recovery
- OILWELL, NEAR-WELL, AND SURFACE OPERATIONS
- ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH, AND SAFETY APPLICATIONS
- GLOSSARY AND INDEXES
- Author Index
- Affiliation Index
- Subject Index
6 - Surfactant Flooding in Enhanced Oil Recovery
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- SURFACTANT FUNDAMENTALS
- SURFACTANTS IN POROUS MEDIA
- 4 Surfactant Adsorption in Porous Media
- 5 Surfactant Induced Wettability Alteration in Porous Media
- 6 Surfactant Flooding in Enhanced Oil Recovery
- 7 Scale-Up Evaluations and Simulations of Mobility Control Foams for Improved Oil Recovery
- OILWELL, NEAR-WELL, AND SURFACE OPERATIONS
- ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH, AND SAFETY APPLICATIONS
- GLOSSARY AND INDEXES
- Author Index
- Affiliation Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Improvements of surfactant flooding in enhanced oil recovery during the last 10 years are discussed. The review starts by giving a short introduction to the principles of traditional surfactant/polymer flooding in sandstone reservoirs. Progress to improve the flooding technique by simplifying the chemical formulation in a viscous displacement of oil is reviewed. Factors related to surfactant-polymer properties, interfacial tension, interaction between chemicals and rock, phase behavior, and possible phase gradients are discussed. The experience of performing chemical floods at three-phase and two-phase conditions without alcohol present is presented. The status of spontaneous imbibition of water and aqueous surfactant solution into lowpermeable chalk material containing oil is brought up to date. Special focus is given to interfacial tension, wettability, and height of the chalk material. The imbibition mechanism is discussed in terms of forces related to capillary pressure, gravity, and possible gradients in surface tension.
Introduction
Scope. From a technical point of view, more so in the lab than in the field, chemical flooding of oil reservoirs is one of the most successful methods to enhance oil recovery from depleted reservoirs at low pressure. It is, however, well documented in the literature that chemical flooding is only marginally economical, or in most cases directly uneconomical. Initially, the objective of chemical flooding was to recover additional oil after a waterflood, and it is therefore described as a tertiary oil recovery process.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- SurfactantsFundamentals and Applications in the Petroleum Industry, pp. 203 - 250Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
- 15
- Cited by