THE MECHANISM OF SURFACTANT IN MICROEMULSION PHASE BEHAVIOR

This research presents the behavior of surfactant in microemulsion during
chemical EOR process. Phase behavior study is usually used to interpret the
interaction of an aqueous phase containing surfactant with crude oil to form the
desired microemulsion. Winsor Type III microemulsion is the best for EOR
application in which excess volume of oil and water are solubilized by surfactant in
the middle phase. However, no studies were performed to investigate the surfactant
distribution during Type III microemulsion. Therefore, the main objective of this
study was to investigate the surfactant partition tor different salinities within Type III
microemulsion. Phase behavior experiments were conducted at various salinity
increments to generate gel and liquid crystal free microemulsion using surfactant,
cosurfactant and cosolvent. Effect of varying surfactant, cosurfactant and cosolvent
concentration on microemulsion behavior has been presented.