Combination of a new natural surfactant and smart water injection for enhanced oil recovery in carbonate rock: Synergic impacts of active ions and natural surfactant concentration

摘要

By increasing oil demand in carbonate reservoirs, enhanced oil recovery techniques play key role in improving oil production. Surfactant flooding and smart water injection are already well known as effective enhanced oil recovery techniques that increase oil recovery by reduction of oil-water interfacial tension and the alteration of rock wettability. In this work, a new plant-base natural surfactant, named Tribulus Terrestris is introduced and combined with smart water samples (i.e. synthetic seawater with different concentrations of active Ca2+, Mg(2+ )and SO42- ions) to determine their individual and integrated effects on reduction in interfacial tension, wettability alteration and oil recovery in carbonate rock samples.