Alkaline Flooding of Low Acid Number Crude Oil

Alkaline water flooding is an enhance oil recovery process where the pH of the injection water is
increase by addition of relatively inexpensive alkaline agents in an effort towards improving oil
recovery. This final report describe about alkaline flooding for low acid number crude oil begin
with background of the project which emphasize more on type of alkali used in this project
whether strong or weak to determine the cause in lowering the interfacial tension. Besides that,
this project also means to examine the oil-in-water emulsion retention and wettabilty changes.
The problem statement in this project is how alkaline flooding can increase oil recovery even in
low acid number crude oil. Several theories and has been introduced to prove there is no exact
correlation between acid number and displacement efficiency. In the end of project background,
3 objectives has been setup which are; 1) examine the end-point fluid relative permeability
changes using strong and weak alkali, 2) examine emulsion retention of oil-in-water emulsion
and relation with dynamic interfacial tension, 3) investigate wettability alteration with respect to
contact angle, to be achieved throughout this project. In addition, scope of study has been narrow
down in order to achieve the objectives. Relative permeability, emulsion retention, interfacial
tension, gas chromatographic test and wettability alteration are the scope of studies for this
project. More theories and findings are described in literature review to give the full analysis of
the alkaline flooding especially in low acid number from the past until recent findings and
innovation. In this part, more citation and references are from the past in order to get the flow on
how the experts conduct their research. The flow of project and activities are described in
methodology. The laboratory works is determined which consist of general experiment and
objectives experiment. To ensure the project meet the timeline, Gantt chart is provided to give
clear view of whole processes and project activities. Furthermore, the results obtained and
findings which are the formation of winsor type III microemulsion and changes in contact angle
in this project are further discussed with the aid of pictures, graphs, and tables to prove the
successful of alkaline flooding of low acid number crude oil. Finally, the conclusion and
recommendation of this project are suggested at the end of this report as complement element for
this project.