Static Adsorption of Novel Synthesized Zwitterionic Surfactant: A Mineralogical Study

Surfactant flooding process is used to enhance pore scale displacement efficiency in oil reservoir. Usually, minimal retention of surfactant is coveted to achieve an efficient chemical flooding process. This adsorption behavior of a novel synthesized zwitterionic surfactant on reservoir rocks (limestone, sandstone, and dolomite) was investigated in this study. Moreover, the surfactant adsorption behavior on clay mineral was studied. The static adsorption experiment was carried out by mixing 1 g of rock sample with 15 ml of surfactant. The mixture was centrifuged and the supernatant was quantified using HPLC. The result indicates that the surfactant adsorption increases as a function of surfactant concentration. The zwitterionic surfactant displayed lower adsorption on carbonate and dolomite rock samples recording ≈ 1.068 mg/g-rock and 1.389 mg/g-rock, respectively. On the other hand, the hydroxysulfobetaine zwitterionic surfactant displayed higher adsorption on clay mineral. The mechanism of the zwitterionic surfactant adsorption is elucidated. Overall, the outcome of this study extends the frontier of knowledge on zwitterionic surfactant application for chemical enhanced oil recovery.