A Comprehensive Experimental Study on The Performance of Alcoholalkoxyl-Sulfate-Based Surfactant: A Case Study on Light Crude Oil Field A

Abstract

Indonesia's crude oil production has been declining steadily. With the ever-increasing oil demand, the challenge of sustaining production urgently needs solutions. Chemical-Enhanced Oil Recovery (CEOR) is a tertiary recovery method involving the injection of chemicals such as surfactants. Surfactant flooding is a well-established method that has been proven to have a better sweep efficiency. The objective of this study is to examine the performance of surfactant X based on laboratory experiments. In total, 7 tests were conducted consisting of compatibility test, IFT test, thermal stability test, phase behavior test, wettability test, filtration test, and spontaneous imbibition test. Three surfactants were sampled for this study, named surfactants X, Y, and Z, all anionic in nature and possible to be extracted from natural resources. Crude oil with an API gravity of 44.4 (light oil) was used in the experiments. The study ultimately shows that of the three surfactants, surfactant X has the best performance. Specifically, surfactant X at concentration of 0.3% in 18000 ppm brine is considered the best formulation because it can reach ultralow IFT value, form a middle phase (Windsor type III), yield the highest contact angle decrease, pass the filtration test, and have the highest recovery factor in the spontaneous imbibition test.