An experimental investigation on the use of saponin as a non-ionic surfactant for chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in sandstone and carbonate oil reservoirs: IFT, wettability alteration, and oil recovery

[Display omitted] •The surfactant, pure saponin, was assessed for EOR in sandstones and carbonates.•The evaluation experiments were IFT, wettability, and core flood.•The surfactant considerably decreased the value of IFT and contact angle.•Up to 8.4% of oil recovery improvement was observed after su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical engineering research & design 2020-08, Vol.160, p.417-425
Main Authors: Khayati, Hossein, Moslemizadeh, Aghil, Shahbazi, Khalil, Moraveji, Mostafa Keshavarz, Riazi, Seyyed Hadi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Contact angle
Enhanced oil recovery
Experiments
Flooding
Interfacial bonding
Interfacial tension (IFT)
Micelles
Oil recovery improvement
Performance evaluation
Reservoirs
Salt
Sandstone
Saponin
Saponins
Sessile drop method
Sodium chloride
Surface tension
Surfactant flooding
Surfactants
Wettability
Wettability alteration
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Summary:[Display omitted] •The surfactant, pure saponin, was assessed for EOR in sandstones and carbonates.•The evaluation experiments were IFT, wettability, and core flood.•The surfactant considerably decreased the value of IFT and contact angle.•Up to 8.4% of oil recovery improvement was observed after surfactant flooding.•The surfactant exhibited a salt-tolerant characteristic. Surfactant flooding, a chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique, boosts oil production mainly through lowering oil–water interfacial tension (IFT) and altering reservoir rock wettability. In the current study, the performance of pure saponin, a non-ionic surfactant, was evaluated for EOR in sandstone and carbonate reservoirs. The performance evaluation experiments were IFT by pendant drop method, wettability through the use of sessile drop technique, and core flood to discover the oil recovery improvement. According to IFT experiments, the surfactant had a critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 5g/L, and which it decreased the oil–water IFT by 66.98% at CMC, for the system free from salt. Moreover, after increasing the salinity by sodium chloride up to 100g/L, it not only was salt-tolerant but also lowered oil–water IFT up to 77.31%. Depending on salt concentration, the surfactant decreased the sessile drop contact angle by 4.49–27.84° and 5.62–16.98° for the sandstone and carbonate slices, respectively. From the core flood experiments, the oil recovery was improved by 8.4% and 6.23% for the surfactant flooding in the sandstone and carbonate cores, respectively. All in all, the non-ionic surfactant saponin performed best in improving oil recovery from both sandstone and carbonate reservoirs.
ISSN:0263-8762
1744-3563
DOI:10.1016/j.cherd.2020.04.033