Surfactants synthesis using petroleum fractions and crude oil: Application in microemulsion formulation

摘要

Surfactant synthesis was realized from Algerian crude oil and petroleum fractions. To predict the composition (wt%) in paraffins, naphtenes, and aromatics, the crude oil and petroleum fractions were first characterized using the n-d-PA empirical method of Robert. The characterization showed a good level in aromatics compounds which give high yield in the sulfonation reaction by oleum. The synthesized surfactants were characterized by spectroscopic techniques (UV, FTIR) and by critical micelle concentration (CMC), Krafft temperature, solubility (in aqueous and in salt solution), molecular weight, and matter actives (%) measurements. The formulation of microemulsion using synthesized surfactant from plat format petroleum fraction showed a Winsor III type system. The effect of salinity demonstrates the existence of an optimal value of NaCl concentration for which the interfacial tension takes the lowered value (10~(-4)mN/m). Viscosity measurements confirm that the formulated microemulsion has a Newtonian behavior.