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Updated: Jan 8, 2026
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Enhanced Oil Recovery using a Combination of Biosurfactants
Published on: June 3, 2022
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Performance Evaluation and Optimization of a Compound Microemulsion System for Enhanced Oil Recovery in
Kaiqi Leng1,2,3, Baoshan Guan1,2,3, Chen Jiang1,2,3
1University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
ACS Omega
|December 22, 2025
Summary
A novel microemulsion system (M3ME) enhances oil recovery in low-permeability reservoirs by overcoming capillary forces. This advanced surfactant formulation effectively mobilizes residual oil, significantly boosting extraction efficiency in tight formations.
Area of Science:
- Petroleum Engineering
- Chemical Engineering
- Materials Science
Background:
- Conventional surfactants struggle in low-permeability (≤30 mD) reservoirs due to high capillary forces, hindering oil recovery.
- Developing effective enhanced oil recovery (EOR) strategies for tight formations remains a significant challenge in the petroleum industry.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and optimize a microemulsion system (M3ME) for enhanced oil recovery in low-permeability reservoirs.
- To evaluate the performance of M3ME in terms of oil recovery, interfacial tension reduction, and pore throat penetration.
Main Methods:
- Formulation of M3ME using sodium methyl ester sulfonate (MES) and fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether-3 (AEO-3), optimized via orthogonal experiments.
- Characterization of M3ME properties, including particle size and stability.
- Evaluation of M3ME performance through core flooding and spontaneous imbibition tests on low-permeability cores.
Main Results:
- Optimized M3ME demonstrated a 25.61% increase in oil recovery compared to water flooding.
- M3ME achieved significantly lower interfacial tension, facilitating deeper penetration into nanoscale pore throats.
- In core flooding tests, 0.2% M3ME outperformed the M3 surfactant system by 7.49%.
Conclusions:
- M3ME is a highly effective system for enhanced oil recovery in low-permeability reservoirs.
- The microemulsion's ability to reduce interfacial tension and penetrate nanoscale pores is key to mobilizing residual oil.
- M3ME shows significant potential for improving oil extraction efficiency in tight oil formations.
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