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Updated: Dec 25, 2025

Studying Surfactant Effects on Hydrate Crystallization at Oil-Water Interfaces Using a Low-Cost Integrated Modular Peltier Device
Published on: March 18, 2020
New insights into the interactions between asphaltene and a low surface energy anionic surfactant under low and high
Sajad Kiani1, Daniel R Jones1, Shirin Alexander1
1Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI), Swansea University, Bay Campus, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK.
Hypothesis:
The hyperbranched chains on the tail of low surface energy surfactants (LSES) causes lowering of surface free energy and rock wettability alteration, offering significant improvement in oil recovery in asphaltene oil reservoirs.
Experiments:
Oil sweep efficiency was determined by fluid displacement in pure brine and LSES-brine solutions in a microfluidic pattern that was representative of a sandstone cross-section. Interfacial tension (IFT), wettability alteration, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to measure the changes of asphaltene interactions with oil-aged substrate after surface treating with brine and surfactant-brine solutions.
Findings:
The hyperbranched LSES yielded a significant increase in the original-oil-in-place (OOIP) recovery (58%) relative to brine flooding (25%), even in the presence of asphaltene. Raman spectra showed the LSES-brine solutions to be capable of causing change to the asphaltene aggregate size after centrifugation treatment.
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