(1987) Adsorption of surfactants on Saudi Arabian limestone. Masters thesis, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

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English Abstract

Static adsorption experiments were conducted to investigate the adsorption and precipitation properties of various surfactants including petroleum sulfonate (TRS10-410), ethoxylated sulfonates (v2880, v3348, B1083, B1139) and nonionics (T150) onto Saudi Arabian limestone. The effect of parameters such as solid to liquid ratio, salinity, pH, temperature, surfactant type, ethoxylation number, sacrificial agents, oil and alcohol has been investigated. The adsorption data for limestone/TRS10-410 system and v2880/system at different salinities show that the increase in ionic strength generally increases the surfactant adsorption on limestone at higher sulfonate concentrations. The dependence of adsorption on pH shows marginal sulfonate adsorption above ZPC (pH=8.3) where limestone is negatively charged and extremely high adsorption below pH of 8.3, where the surface of limestone acquires positive charge. Temperature data at three different levels (25, 50 and 90 degree C) show that adsorption drastically increases with increasing temperature. Increasing the ethoxylation number of surfactants decreases the adsorption but concurrently increases the CMC of surfactants. The results also indicate that adsorption of surfactants on limestone can be reduced with addition of silicates as sacrificial agents and n-butanol as co-surfactant. Adsorption data in the presence of crude oil show that adsorption of ethoxylated sulfonates increases significantly in the oil. The adsorption tests for nonionics (T150) show about five-fold higher adsorption than the anionic surfactant (B1083) of the same ethoxylation number under the same experimental conditions. Precipitation behavior of TRS10-410 in the presence of NaCI and CaCl2 indicates that the surfactant is not tolerant to even as low as 1% NaCl and 0.15% CaCl2 levels at room temperature. On the other hand, the precipitation behaviour of ethoxylated sulfonates at 20% NaCl and 90 degree C temperature indicates that this class of surfactants is indeed more tolerant to both mono and multi-valent ions. The results were analyzed to formulate the most favorable conditions to achieve minimum adsorption for Saudi Arabian limestone reservoirs. Mechanisms governing the surfactant adsorption on limestone are elucidated and a surfactant formulation is designed for high slinity and high temperature limestone reservoirs to achieve minimum adsorption for Saudi Arabian limestone.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	Petroleum
Department:	College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences > Petroleum Engineering
Committee Advisor:	Al-Yousef, Hasan Y.
Committee Members:	Celik, Mehmet and Al-Hashim, Hasan S.
Depositing User:	Mr. Admin Admin
Date Deposited:	22 Jun 2008 13:45
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2019 13:49
URI:	http://eprints.kfupm.edu.sa/id/eprint/9651