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Surfactant-Induced Wettability Alteration of Oil-Wet Sandstone Surface: Mechanisms and Its Effect on Oil Recovery

  • Original Article
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Journal of Surfactants and Detergents

Abstract

Different analytical methods were utilized to investigate the mechanisms for wettability alteration of oil-wet sandstone surfaces induced by different surfactants and the effect of reservoir wettability on oil recovery. The cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is more effective than the nonionic surfactant octylphenol ethoxylate (TX-100) and the anionic surfactant sodium laureth sulfate (POE(1)) in altering the wettability of oil-wet sandstone surfaces. The cationic surfactant CTAB was able to desorb negatively charged carboxylates of crude oil from the solid surface in an irreversible way by the formation of ion pairs. For the nonionic surfactant TX-100 and the anionic surfactant POE(1), the wettability of oil-wet sandstone surfaces is changed by the adsorption of surfactants on the solid surface. The different surfactants were added into water to vary the core surface wettability, while maintaining a constant interfacial tension. The more water-wet core showed a higher oil recovery by spontaneous imbibition. The neutral wetting micromodel showed the highest oil recovery by waterflooding and the oil-wet model showed the maximum residual oil saturation among all the models.

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Abbreviations

k :

Rock permeability (10−3 μm2)

S oi :

Initial oil saturation (fraction, %)

wt %:

Weight %

CMC:

Critical micelle concentration

IFT:

Interfacial tension (mN/m)

OOIP:

Original oil in place

PV:

Pore volume (mL)

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Acknowledgments

Financial support by the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT1294) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (13CX05019A and 15CX02006A) are all gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China

    Baofeng Hou, Yefei Wang, Mingchen Ding & Wuhua Chen

  2. Geoscience Research Institute of Shengli Oilfield Company, SINOPEC, Dongying, 257015, China

    Xulong Cao & Xinwang Song

  3. School of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China

    Jun Zhang

Authors
  1. Baofeng Hou
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  4. Jun Zhang
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Correspondence to Yefei Wang.

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Hou, B., Wang, Y., Cao, X. et al. Surfactant-Induced Wettability Alteration of Oil-Wet Sandstone Surface: Mechanisms and Its Effect on Oil Recovery. J Surfact Deterg 19, 315–324 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11743-015-1770-y

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