Experimental Investigation and Modeling of AOT Surfactant Adsorption on Carbonate Rock Particles

The enhancement of energy consumption and increasing demand for oil have led to using improve oil recovery methods. Chemical enhanced oil recovery methods are among the most widly used techniques. Generally, the effect of these methods has been less than the predicted amounts by the studies. One of the leading causes, could be due to the loss of chemicals by adsorption or precipitation of the surfactants on the rock surface. The mineralogy of the reservoir rocks is effective in determination of the interaction between the bulk of the fluid phase and rock surface. This effect will change in the surface charge of the adsorbent and wettability alteration of the rocks.

In this study, the adsorption of AOT surfactant on the surface of a hydrophilic adsorbent of carbonate reservoir was investigated. For this purpose, after the preparation of rock and fluid samples, the adsorption of surfactant was investigated in concentrations below and above the CMC.

Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to measure the amount of surfactant adsorption on the surface of carbonate rock. First different concenteration of AOT solutions and carbonate rock as adsorbent were combined. After 48h, the equilibrium concentrations were determined by using the calibration curve and. The amount of surfactant adsorption can be calculated by knowing the maqnitudes of equilibrium and initial concentration of the surfactant.

The results showed that by increasing the concentration of the surfactant in the liquid phase, the adsorption increased until it reaches a saturation point at the concentration of 1200 ppm. The results of the modeling showed that the Freundlich equilibrium isotherm with 1⁄n equals 0.8971 was the best fit for describing the prediction of AOT surfactant adsorption behaviour.