A Simple Mathematical Model for Estimating Mineral-Alkali Reactions in Alkaline Flooding, Topical Report, January 1987

Surfactant-enhanced alkaline flooding with weak alkalis The objective of Project BE4B in FY90 was to develop cost-effective and efficient chemical flooding formulations using surfactant-enhanced, lower pH (weak) alkaline chemical systems. Chemical systems were studied that mitigate the deleterious effects of divalent ions. The experiments were conducted with carbonate mixtures and carbonate/phosphate mixtures of pH 10.5, where most of the phosphate ions exist as the monohydrogen phosphate species. Orthophosphate did not further reduce the deleterious effect of divalent ions on interfacial tension behavior in carbonate solutions, where the deleterious effect of the divalent ions is already very low. When added to a carbonate mixture, orthophosphate did substantially reduce the adsorption of an atomic surfactant, which was an expected result; however, there was no correlation between the amount of reduction and the divalent ion levels. For acidic oils, a variety of surfactants are available commercially that have potential for use between pH 8.3 and pH 9.5. Several of these surfactants were tested with oil from Wilmington (CA) field and found to be suitable for use in that field. Two low-acid crude oils, with acid numbers of 0.01 and 0.27 mg KOH/g of oil, were studied. It was shown that surfactant-enhanced alkaline flooding does have merit for use with more »these low-acid crude oils. However, each low-acid oil tested was found to behave differently, and it was concluded that the applicability of the method must be experimentally determined for any given low-acid crude oil. 19 refs., 10 figs. 4 tabs.

NIPER-535

Surfactant flooding is flexible because of the ability to optimize formulations for a wide range of reservoir conditions and crude oil types. The objective for this work was to determine if the addition of alkaline additives will allow the design of surfactant formulations that are effective for the recovery of crude oil, while, at the same time, maintaining the surfactant concentration at a much lower level than has previously been used for micellar flooding. Specifically, the focus of the work was on light, midcontinent crudes that typically have very low acid contents. These oils are typical of much of the midcontinent resource. The positive effect of alkaline additives on the phase behavior of the surfactant formulations and acidic crude oils is well known. The extension to nonacidic and slightly acidic oils is not obvious. Three crude oils, a variety of commercial surfactants, and several alkaline additives were tested. The oils had acid numbers that ranged from 0.13, which is quite low, to less than 0.01 mg KOH/g of oil. Alkaline additives were found to be very effective in recovering Delaware-Childers (OK) oil at elevated temperatures, but much less effective at reservoir temperatures. Alkaline additives were very effective with Teapot Dome (WY) oil. With Teapot Dome oil, surfactant/alkali systems produced ultralow IFT values and recovered 60% of the residual oil that remained after waterflooding. The effect of alkaline additives on recovering Hepler (KS) oil was minimal. The results of this work indicate that alkaline additives do have merit for use in surfactant flooding of low acid crude oils; however, no universal statement about applicability can be made. Each oil behaves differently, with this treatment, and the effect of alkaline additives must be determined (at reservoir conditions) for each oil. 23 refs., 13 figs., 3 tabs