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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