Studies on interfacial behavior and wettability change phenomena by ionic and nonionic surfactants in presence of alkalis and salt for enhanced oil recovery

Surfactant flooding is one of the most promising method of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) used after the conventional water flooding. The addition of alkali improves the performance of surfactant flooding due to synergistic effect between alkali and surfactant on reduction of interfacial tension (IFT), wettability alteration and emulsification. In the present study the interfacial tension, contact angle, emulsification and emulsion properties of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and polysorbate 80 (Tween 80) surfactants against crude oil have been investigated in presence of sodium chloride (NaCl) and alkalis viz. sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH), sodium metaborate (SMB) and diethanolamine (DEA). All three surfactants significantly reduce the IFT values, which are further reduced to ultra-low value (∼10−4 mN/m) by addition of alkalis and salt. It has been found experimentally that alkali-surfactant systems change the wettability of an intermediate-wet quartz rock to water-wet. Emulsification of crude oil by surfactant and alkali has also been investigated in terms of the phase volume and stability of emulsion. A comparative FTIR analysis of crude oil and different emulsions were performed to investigate the interactions between crude oil and displacing water in presence of surfactant and alkali.