Surfactant Composition Based on Salt-tolerant Components
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The application of enhanced oil recovery methods at fields with a long history of waterflooding can extend the economic life of oil production, which underscores the relevance of research in this area. In the Ural-Volga region, the most depleted targets are terrigenous Devonian reservoirs, which are characterized by high formation water salinity. This significantly hinders the use of anionic surfactants and surfactant based formulations for production stimulation and improved oil recovery.A comprehensive study has been conducted of a surfactant composition resistant to mineral aggression, based on domestic reagents — the anionic surfactant Sulfen‑35K and the nonionic neonols AF9‑6 and AF9‑12. The relevance of the work is due to the need to obtain, from domestic raw materials, an effective surfactant that is tolerant to high formation water salinity.It has been established that at the interface of the purified kerosene–saline water system, the composition with Neonol AF9‑12 at a concentration of 0,5 wt. % reduces interfacial tension to 1,46 mN/m. A twofold decrease in the contact angle of residual oil on the Pashiysky sandstone is observed; moreover, after surfactant slug injection into a composite core model of the reservoir, the incremental oil displacement efficiency increases by 10,1 % compared to waterflooding.The obtained performance indicators make it possible to recommend the injection of slugs of the studied composition into the reservoir following operations to equalize the injectivity profile of wells using flow‑diverting gel‑forming compositions. Individual injection of a slug of the surfactant composition is also possible in areas of fields with uniform reserve depletion. An undoubted advantage of the developed composition is its resistance to formation water salinity; thus, the need for pre‑flushing with fresh water slugs or for preparing surfactant solutions in fresh water is eliminated.The resistance to hardness salts allows this composition to be used in traditional surfactant operations: during well flushing, in technologies for removing and preventing deposits of asphaltene‑resin and paraffin substances — as additives to acid solutions and kill fluids.An important feature of the composition of surfactants based on anion-active Sulfene-35K and nonionic neonols is the fact that all its components are based on domestic raw materials and do not depend on import supplies.
Source: Oil and Gas Business
Language: English
Subfield: Fuel Technology
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7207788198