Novel Alkyl Ether Sulfonates for High Salinity Reservoir: Effect of Concentration on Transient Ultralow Interfacial Tension at the Oil–Water Interface

Abstract

The effect of surfactant concentration on the occurrence and detection of transient ultralow interfacial tension (IFT) between crude oil and formation water at 75 °C has been investigated using a series of novel sodium alkyl ether sulfonates having various increasing molecular weights and degrees of ethoxylation. All surfactant systems displayed dynamic interfacial tension (DIT). Transient ultralow DIT (DIT_min) were detected only within an intermediate surfactant concentration. This behavior was attributed to an implicit concentration-related length scale required for the added surfactant to diffuse from the bulk phase to the freshly prepared oil–water interface. In the high surfactant concentration range, this length scale is relatively short and results in an instantaneous (and undetectable) occurrence of DIT_mim in a relatively very short time scale, well beyond the detection limit of the spinning drop tensiometer (~2–3 min). Interestingly, DIT_min were detected only in systems above the surfactant’s critical micelle concentration, suggesting that DIT_min occurs as a result of the diffusion (subsequent to the adsorption) of the oil acidic species from the interface to the bulk phase to form mixed micelles with the added surfactant. Measurements of DITs in the presence of decane showed no evidence for DIT_min, confirming the general belief that DIT_min is indeed due to the interaction of the added surfactant with the oil acidic components. Finally, the effect of surfactant concentration on the equilibrium IFT (γ_eq) showed evidence for relatively low values (~10⁻² mNm⁻¹) for some surfactant systems.