Oil recovery by ionic surfactant and sweep efficiency study in sandstones

Abstract

In this work, we have investigated the oil recovery performance, adsorption, sweep and displacement efficiency by ionic surfactants. In the adsorption and recovery assays, a surfactant aqueous solution at a concentration 30% above the corresponding critical micelle concentration (c.m.c.) was used to ensure micelle formation. The results obtained showed that the ionic surfactant recovered 89.0% of the original oil in place. High efficiency was provided both in the displacement assays, observed by oil recovery in core, and in the swept, due to the fact that the viscosity of the surfactant solution (3.0 cP) was close to that of the oil (2.9 cP)