Use of an Effluent for Enhanced Oil Recovery
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Indian Journal of Chemical Technology Vol. 19, September 2012, pp. 366-370 Use of an effluent for enhanced oil Na-lignosulfonate, which is chosen as an alternative recovery surfactant source because it is derived from Subrata Borgohain Gogoi* & Borkha Mech Das bamboo which is renewable and abundantly available Department of Petroleum Technology, Dibrugarh University, in this region. Na- lignosulfonate is available in Dibrugarh, 786 004, India effluent from paper and pulp mills. Several studies of lignosulfonate showed increased interfacial activity Received 1 September 2011; accepted 27 February 2012 between oil and petroleum sulfonate upon the addition of lignosulfonate2,3. However, the quantity of This paper reports the effect of using black liquor and spent lignosulfonate required for lowering the IFT should sulfite liquors, which emanate as effluent from Nowgong Paper 4 5 Mill, Jagiroad, Assam, in enhanced crude oil recovery from be much smaller . In fact, De Groote and Monsoon Naharkotiya porous media. An attempt has been made to study the originated the idea of recovering oil from reservoirs effect of interfacial tension of black liquor and how it affects by means of spent liquors. The principal objective of the recovery of crude oil from the porous rock of Naharkotiya the work is to focus on the fundamental aspect of reservoir of Oil India Limited, Duliajan, Assam. The main surfactant flooding related to interfacial tension and constituent of black liquor is Na-lignosulfonate, an anionic water soluble surfactant. Addition of Na-lignosulfonate to crude oil enhanced oil recovery. emulsions gives rise to ultra-low inter-facial tensions between the oil and the aqueous phase, which are very much in demand in Experimental Procedure enhanced oil recovery projects. Reduction of interfacial tension leads to the release of residual oil droplets from the capillaries Materials in the porous media, thereby increasing substantially the amount The porous medium was obtained from a of petroleum obtainable from a given porous media. producing field of Deohal area obtained from a depth of 3856-3859m. The paraffin oil of viscosity (µo) Keywords: Black liquor, Critical micelle concentration, Enhanced 5.596×10-3 Pa-s and density (ρ ) 0.810 kg/m3 was col- oil recovery, Interfacial tension, Porous media, Residual o oil saturation, Sodium lignosulphonate lected from Digboi refinery. The brine solution is 3000 ppm of NaCl in DW having viscosity (µw) -3 3 It has been widely recognized that surfactant of 9.67×10 Pa-s and density (ρw) of 1 kg/m . flooding of petroleum reservoirs is an effective Analytical grade NaCl was procured from BDH means of recovering a fraction of the remaining oil, (Mumbai, India). Catflo-T (cationic polyelectrolyte) provided an ultra low IFT (interfacial tension) a deoiler, was supplied by Thermax, Pune, and used ( ≈ 0.001×10-3 N/m) between the oil and the aqueous to separate the emulsion. The surfactants used were solution containing surfactant is attained. Several BL (black liquer), anionic water soluble surfactant, types of petroleum sulfonate surfactants have been whose main constituent is Na-lignosulfonate from investigated for attaining such low interfacial Nowgong Paper Mill, Jagiroad; and TX (polyethyle- tensions. However, the high cost of petroleum neglycol 4-tert-octylphenol ether) a non-ionic sulfonate is one of the major drawbacks in surfactant water soluble surfactant, supplied from Research flooding processes. Laboratories Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai. Sodium lignosul- In this study, the IFT between surfactants fonate is stable at ambient temperature when kept BL(black liquor) and TX (Triton X 100) and open in the air, its instability temperature is not 6 co-surfactant IPA (isopropyl alcohol) in DW available . The density and viscosity of TX was (distilled water) and paraffin oil were calculated by 1.0694 kg/m3 and 1.076×10-3 Pa-s and that of IPA Hawkin’s Drop method1. It tries to investigate the was 0.8 kg/m3 and 1.091×10-3 Pa-s respectively. A possibilities of using BL alone and BL along with typical analysis of BL sample is given in Table.1. TX and IPA in EOR (enhanced oil recovery) Other constituents of BL are silica, lime, iron oxide, operations. The main constituent of BL is alumina, potash and sodium chloride in appreciable amounts, and organic matter varying within the limit —————— * Corresponding author. of 55-70 % of the total solids in BL. Sulphur and 3 E-mail: [email protected] water contents in BL are 6.04 kg/m and 79.41% NOTE 367 respectively as calculated by gravimetric analysis. The drop number and the number of houses the Total organic solids comprise mainly lignin since the volume of drops occupy on the graph paper were raw material of this paper mill is bamboo. The BL recorded after 300, 600 and 900s. The number of oil contains sodium salts which also help in reducing the drops that passes from the nozzle of the capillary tube IFT of oil and water. But in this case, small amount through the aqueous phase of the external reservoir of liquor used contains only a negligible amount of when 1cc of oil was allowed to pass was recorded. Na salts. Therefore, some other component of the It was also observed that oil being lighter occupies liquor possibly the lignosulfonate must be responsible the top portion of the aqueous phase and the number in lowering the IFT. The co-surfactant chosen was of houses that the oil occupies was counted from iso-propyl-alcohol (IPA) [CH3 (CH2)5CH3] supplied the graph paper. IFT calculation was done using from Central Drug House (P) Ltd., Mumbai, India. the balance of IFT and buoyancy force equation, VF ∆ρg = 2πrσ F. The concentrations of surfactants Methods (BL and TX) on the X-axis and IFT on the Y-axis Interfacial Tension were plotted to determine the critical micelle concen- Modified Hawkin’s Drop Weight method7 was tration (CMC) for each different surfactant. Above used to determine IFT (Fig. 1). The apparatus used a critical concentration depending on the structure of comprises a precision bore capillary tube attached surfactant molecules as well as the physicochemical to a stop cork and reservoir at the left hand end, condition, the surfactant molecule form aggregates terminating in a precision ground glass nozzle at called micelles. This characteristic concentration the right hand end. A small sample bottle was placed is the CMC. IFT was also measured for different over the precision nozzle and sealed in position. concentrations of co-surfactant (IPA). After about 172800 s (2 days) of equilibration, the Permeability test IFT was determined. Initially the capillary tube and The permeability test was conducted in a the reservoir were filled with the oil phase, which was cylindrical section of 0.3048m length and 0.0381m done by pouring the oil through a funnel into the open and operated vertically as shown in Fig. 2. The setup end of the capillary tube till it reaches the nozzle end essentially comprises a cylinder packed with crushed keeping the stop cork open. The stop cork was closed and the oil phase was kept stable inside the capillary tube. The aqueous phase was poured into the sample bottle attached at the right hand end. Oil droplets were released from the open nozzle into the sample bottle through the aqueous phase and occupy the top portion of the aqueous phase in the sample bottle. A series of oil droplets were released from the nozzle, the volume of each being directly calculated from the air solvent movement in the external reservoir, with the help of a graph paper attached (Fig. 1). Fig. 1—Apparatus for determination of IFT Table 1—Composition of black liquor Composition Amount (in %) Density (289 K) 1090 kg/m3 Total solids 16.1-16.5% 3 NaO 2C 3 as Na2O 29.04 kg/m (2.904) 3 Na 2S as Na2O 5.83 kg/m (0.583) 3 NaOH as Na2O 3.63 kg/m (0.363) 3 NaO 2S 4 as Na2O 1.16 kg/m (0.116) 3 Other compounds as Na2O 9.57 kg/m (0.957) 3 Fig. 2—Permeability apparatus [1- Stirrer, 2- Sample reservoir, Total Sodium as Na2O 49.23 kg/m (4.923) 3 3- Pump, 4 & 5- Pressure gauge, 6- Porous media, 7- By-pass, Na-lignosulfonate (approx) 132.58 mol/m 8- Sample collector] 368 INDIAN J. CHEM. TECHNOL, SEPTEMBER 2012 rock sample, pressure gauges, sample reservoir, Catflo (catalytic polyelectrolyte) supplied from sample collector, stirrer and a pump all connected by Thermax, Pune, India, with constant agitation by pipes of 0.0127 and 0.022225m outside diameter. means of a stirrer. Secondary brine flooding was The core sample was crushed in such a way that the carried out till residual oil saturation (Sor) was grains were not broken. The crushed grains were reached. It was discontinuous. Finally, surfactant made into a pack by using emseal, purchased locally flooding was done till residual oil saturation after and compressed uniformly in order to obtain a pack surfactant flooding (Sors) was reached and there was of uniform packing characteristics 8 and kept into the no further production of oil from the test sample. test cylinder. The permeability experiment was not carried out with the actual core obtained from the oil Results and Discussion field because the clay minerals in the actual core Interfacial Tension samples encountered problems like swelling and IFT between aqueous phase and oil phase was 9.10 also to gain further understanding of the physical measured with and without surfactant in the mechanisms of emulsion flow in porous media. The aqueous phase (Fig. 3). It is observed that the addition measured effective porosity by saturation method of surfactants reduces the IFT between the two before flooding was found to be 18.78 - 21.90%.