Alkyl Polyglycoside/1-Naphthol Formulations: A Case Study of Surfactant Enhanced Oil Recovery

S. Iglauer; Y. Wu; P. Shuler; Y. Tang; W. A. Goddard

doi:10.3139/113.110111

Article

Alkyl Polyglycoside/1-Naphthol Formulations: A Case Study of Surfactant Enhanced Oil Recovery

S. Iglauer , Y. Wu , P. Shuler , Y. Tang and W. A. Goddard

Published/Copyright: April 11, 2013

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From the journal Tenside Surfactants Detergents Volume 48 Issue 2

Abstract

We present a case study of surfactant enhanced oil recovery using Alkyl polyglucoside/1-naphthol formulations. Alkyl polyglucosides are a green, non-toxic and renewable surfactant class synthesized out of agricultural raw materials. We measured interfacial tensions versus n-octane and viscosities of these formulations and conducted one coreflood enhanced oil recovery (EOR) experiment where we recovered 82.6 % of initial oil in place demonstrating that these formulations are efficient EOR agents.

Kurzfassung

Wir präsentieren am Beispiel von Alkylpolyglykosid/1-Naphtholformulierungen die tertiäre Erdölförderung mit Tensidformulierungen. Alkylpolyglykoside sind grüne, ungiftige und erneuerbare Tenside, die aus landwirtschaftlichen Rohmaterialien synthetisiert werden. Wir haben die Grenzflächenspannung dieser wässrigen Tensidformulierungen gegen n-Oktan gemessen und die Viskositäten der wässrigen Formulierungen bestimmt. In einem Bohrkernflutungsexperiment konnten wir 82,6 % des Öls fördern und damit die hohe Effektivität dieser Tensidmischungen demonstrieren.

Key words:: alkyl polyglucoside; 1-naphthol; ultra-low interfacial tension; cosolvent; shear-thinning; enhanced oil recovery; surfactant flooding

Stichwörter:: Alkylpolyglucoside; 1-Naphthol; ultra-niedrige Grenzflächenspannungen; Ko-Tensid; strukturviskos; tertiäre Erdölförderung; Tensidfluten

^∗ Dr. Stefan Iglauer, Dept. of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, Royal School of Mines Building, South Kensington Campus, Prince Consort Road, SW 7 2AZ London, United Kingdom, Tel.: +447521802013. E-Mail: s.iglauer@imperial.ac.uk

Dr. Stefan Iglauer is a Research Associate at Imperial College London. His research interests include carbon dioxide sequestration, multi-phase flow in porous media, interfacial science, polymer technology and enhanced oil recovery. Dr. Iglauer earned his chemistry degree from the University of Paderborn and received his PhD from the Oxford Brookes University. He worked as a Postdoctoral scholar in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology from 2003–2005.

Dr. Yongfu Wu is a Research Assistant Professor with the Petroleum Engineering Program at Missouri University of Science and Technology (MS&T). Dr. Wu's research interests include surfactants and interfacial phenomena such as adsorption, aggregation, dispersion, emulsion, foaming, spreading and wetting, as well as development of novel surfactants and formulations for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), remediation of aquifer and groundwater and other surfactant-related industrial applications. Currently his research focuses on the fundamental aspects of enhanced oil recovery by chemical technologies.

Dr. Patrick Shuler currently is on the research staff at the PEERI (Power, Environmental, and Energy Research Institute) located in Covina, CA. There he has been directing government and industry-sponsored research projects in chemical-based Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) for the past 9 years. Previous to joining PEERI he worked for over 22 years in Chevron Corporation's upstream R&D organization. While there he specialized in research in chemical EOR and in other aspects of oil and gas production chemistry. Dr. Shuler earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemical engineering degrees from the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Colorado, respectively.

Dr. Yongchun Tang is the director of the Power, Environmental and Energy Research Institute, formerly known as the Power, Environmental and Energy Research (PEER) Center at the California Institute of Technology. He was co-founder of the PEER Center at Caltech, which has now become an independent research institute. From 1998 to 2009, Dr. Tang worked as the director of PEER Center at Caltech where he was PI and coPI for many challenging research projects funded by the DOE, NSF, and many large petroleum industries including Chevron, Shell, Exxon, BP, Conocophillips, Saudi Aramco, ENI-Agip, Total, Devon, PetroChina, and China Petroleum Corporation (Taiwan). Before joining Caltech, Dr. Tang was the senior research scientist and team leader for the molecular simulation group at Chevron. He is currently also adjunct professor at Shanghai University, Cornell University, Beijing University, the Coal Research Institute of Science Academy of China, and the Guangzhou Geochemistry Institute. He was adjunct professor at Cornell University (2001–2003). Dr. Tang got his BS in Chemistry from Shanxi University (1981) and PhD from Ohio University (1985). Dr. Tang joined Chevron in 1988 after his postdoctoral work at Harvard University and Georgia Institute of Technology.

Prof. William A. Goddard III has been a member of the Faculty of the Chemistry Department at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) since November 1964, where he is now Charles and Mary Ferkel Professor in Chemistry, Materials Science, and Applied Physics. His research career has focused on developing methods to solve problems in catalysis, materials science, and pharma from first principles (no use of empirical data). He uses multiscale multiparadigm technologies to make first principles methods practical for critical problems in catalysis, nanotechnology, fuel cells, and pharma. Thus, his work bridges between fundamentals of physics and chemistry, new developments in computer science, and practical applications. Professor Goddard has published over 816 scientific articles. See http://www.wag.caltech.edu/publications/papers/.

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Received: 2010-07-05

Published Online: 2013-04-11

Published in Print: 2011-03-01

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.3139/113.110111

Keywords for this article

alkyl polyglucoside; 1-naphthol; ultra-low interfacial tension; cosolvent; shear-thinning; enhanced oil recovery; surfactant flooding