Abstract
This paper determines the optimal surfactant concentration for enhancing coal’s wettability and explores the wetting mechanism at surfactant concentrations above the critical micelle concentration (CMC) during coal seam water injection. In this study, laboratory experiments and field tests were used to investigate the influence of monomeric surfactants and compound surfactants at various concentrations on coal’s wettability. The results showed that when the surfactant solution concentration was greater than the CMC, the coal’s wettability was significantly enhanced as the surfactant concentration increased. However, the coal’s wettability did not monotonically increase with the concentration, and the maximum value was reached in the range of 0.5–3 wt.%. Increasing the surfactant adsorption density and changing the adsorption state on the coal surface were the essential reasons surfactants continued improving the coal’s wettability at concentrations above the CMC. The Marangoni flow effect and changes in the viscosity of the surfactant solution with concentration were also important factors that affected the coal’s wettability.
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Abbreviations
- CMC:
-
Critical micelle concentration
- A ad :
-
Ash (dry basis)
- FC ad :
-
Fixed carbon (air-dry basis)
- θ e :
-
Equilibrium contact angle
- M ad :
-
Moisture (air-dry basis)
- V daf :
-
Volatile matter (dried ash-free basis)
- θ i :
-
Initial contact angle
- T :
-
Complete wetting time
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Funding
This work was supported by [National Nature Science Foundation of China] (grant numbers: 51874015), [National Key Research and Development Program of China] (No. 2022YFC2903901), [National Nature Science Foundation of China] (grant numbers: 52204198), and [Fellowship of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation] (grant numbers: 2022M710355). Author Longzhe Jin and Jianguo Liu have received research support from them.
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Tianyang Wang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing—Original Draft. Jianguo Liu: Conceptualization, Writing—Review & Editing. Shu Wang: Investigation, Writing—Review & Editing. Longzhe Jin: Supervision, Funding acquisition. Minglei Lin: Investigation, Validation. Shengnan Ou: Resources, Methodology.
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Wang, T., Liu, J., Wang, S. et al. Enhancement of the wettability of a coal seam during water injection: effect and mechanism of surfactant concentrations above the CMC. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 39857–39870 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-25036-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-25036-8