Abstract:
The significant loss of surfactants during reservoir flooding is a
challenge in oil field operations. The presence of clay minerals affects the
surfactant performance, resulting in surfactant losses. This is because the
mineralogical composition of the reservoir results in unpredicted adsorption
quantity. Therefore, this paper seeks to investigate Aerosol-OT’s adsorption
on different quartz/clay mineral compositions during the flow. Also, it
investigates adsorption mitigation by preflushing with lignin. The dynamic
experiments were conducted on sand packs composed of quartz-sand and up
to a 7% clay mineral content. The results obtained from the surfactant losses
were compared with/without lignin preflush at different pH values. The main
observation was the direct relationship between increasing the composition
of clay minerals and the surfactant pore volume required to overcome the
adsorption. The highest adsorption calculated was 46 g/kg for 7% kaolinite.
Moreover, lignin successfully reduced the adsorption of Aerosol-OT by 60%.
Therefore, the results demonstrate that the effects of the clay mineral content on adsorption could be efficiently minimized using
lignin at a high pH.