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Published on: March 18, 2020
Green Surfactant Made from Cashew Phenol for Enhanced Oil Recovery
Junqi Wang1, Feng Gu2, Weiwei Han3
1The Key Laboratory of Well Stability and Fluid & Rock Mechanics in Oil and Gas Reservoir of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an Shiyou University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710065, China.
Abstract:
Surfactants play an important role in enhancing oil recovery (EOR). With the development of tertiary oil recovery technology and the continuous improvement of environmental protection requirements, green environmentally friendly surfactants play an important role in replacing conventional surfactants. In this paper, cardanol polyoxyethylene ether (CPE) was synthesized from natural biomass cardanol. Its structure was characterized, and its surface/interface properties, salt and temperature resistance, wettability, emulsification, and oil displacement effect were studied experimentally. The results showed that CPE had good interfacial activity and temperature and salt tolerance, which can reduce the oil-water interfacial tension to 10-1 mN/m. The emulsion formed by CPE had good stability. With the increase in CPE dosage, the droplet size of the emulsion decreases. The emulsion stabilized by CPE can effectively enhance oil recovery by 11.8%. Therefore, CPE not only is environmentally friendly but also has great application potential in the field of EOR.
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