Effect of active species in crude oil on the interfacial tension behavior of alkali/synthetic surfactants/crude oil systems

Abstract

The effect of active species present in crude oil on the interfacial tension (IFT) behavior of alkali/synthetic surfactants/crude oil systems was studied. The system consisted of heavy alkyl benzene sulfonate, sodium chloride, sodium hydrate and Daqing crude oil. Experimental results indicated that active species would diffuse from oil/aqueous interface to aqueous phase and finally an equilibrium could be reached in the system with increasing contact time. Moreover, the minimum IFT and equilibrium IFT values increased with increasing contact time and a linear relationship existed between dynamic IFT and t1/2 when IFT value approaching the minimum and after the minimum IFT was reached. This indicated that the dynamic IFT-time behavior was diffusion controlled. The oil and aqueous phases were analyzed by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. IR spectra of oil and aqueous phases illustrated that the content of active species in the oil phase decreased, but the content of active species in the aqueous phase increased after alkali reacted with crude oil. This indicated that the active species present in oil played an important role in reducing IFT. © China University of Petroleum (Beijing) and Springer-Verlag GmbH 2008.