Biography
Biography: Fawzi Banat
Abstract
Over half of the original oil in place (OOIP) is retained in a reservoir after the implementation of primary and secondary production schemes. Hence implementation of chemical stimulation techniques such as surfactant flooding as tertiary-stage recovery method for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is inevitable. An important element of oil recovery based on surfactant flooding is the lowering of the interfacial tension between the aqueous and oil phases. The availability of a large number of surfactants helps in conducting a systematic study of the relation between surfactant structure and its efficacy for oil recovery. Addition of an alkali such as sodium carbonate aids in generating surfactants in-situ and significantly reduce surfactant and co-surfactant adsorption onto the rock during injection and chromatographic separation of the same during co-injection. In addition to reduction of interfacial tension to ultra-low values, surfactants and alkali can also alter the wettability of the rock surfaces to enhance oil recovery. Though, chemical-based EOR techniques have never been responsible for significant enhanced oil production worldwide, surfactants are increasingly implemented as chemical well stimulators, wettability alteration agents and foam generators in several EOR projects. This is an active research area for researchers throughout the world. This study reviewed and assessed some of the recent advances and prospects of surfactant flooding process in oil recovery in the petroleum industry along with its limitations and future prospects in maximizing oil recovery.