Comparison between Two Surfactants (Sodium Oleate and Sodium Stearate)As Drag Reducing Agent in Water System

This project aim is to study the effectiveness of surfactants which are Sodium Oleate
and Sodium Stearate as Drag reducing agents in water injection system. In the life
reservoir, there will come to a point where it will be no longer being able to produce for
hydrocarbon. At this stage, we usually prefer to use secondary recovery to boost up the
performance of the reservoir back. One of the many choices for secondary recovery is
by using water injection. In water injection system, it will require a very long pipeline to
inject water into reservoir. What the engineers are being concern about is the large
pressure drop that might happen along the pipeline. Theoretically explain, the large
pressure loss is caused by the frictional forces between the walls of the pipe with the
turbulence fluid flowing through it. it is found that the longer the pipeline, the higher
the pressure drop will be. So by making two different types of surfactants as DRA,
which are Sodium Oleate and Sodium Stearate, we will be able to investigate which one
performed better as DRA in water injection system. The experiment is done in a lab
consist of 4metre pipeline with two pressure gauges which will measure the pressure
drop of liquid. Before that, a total of 8 concentrations of Sodium Oleate and Sodium
Stearate are prepared using distilled water and magnetic stirrer. For every concentration,
we made two samples so that we can take average measurement of respective
concentrations. From the experiment done, it is shown that Sodium Stearate shows a
better result performing as DRA compared to Sodium Oleate because at 600ppm,
Sodium Stearate gives the lowest average pressure drop which is 7.25psi. While for
average flow rate, Sodium Stearate gives the highest at 400ppm which is 37.41gpm. The
highest %DR and %FI for Sodium Stearate are 47.22% and 42.66% respectively. So in
conclusion, Sodium Stearate shows a better ability as DRA in water pipeline system
compared to Sodium Oleate. This shows the study of surfactants DRA is important
because it can help to reduce drag problem which is a major problem in our oil industry.