Interfacial tension reduction and viscosity control by chemically grafted polymeric surfactant for enhanced oil recovery

The production rate of many oil fields has been decreased during recent years. Various old chemical methods have been used to exploit oil reservoirs, such as the use of polymers, surfactant-polymer (SP), and alkaline/surfactant/polymer (ASP). Among all the enhanced oil recovery methods, polymeric surfactants had excellent function for enhance oil recovery (EOR) purposes. This study presents significant research about the influence of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) on the adsorption properties of non-ionic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer. In other words, the surfactant was placed on the polymer through a direct acid-base reaction in the form of a chemical grafting via the reflex and hydrothermal process for the first time. With this evidence, the surface of PVA polymer was modified and activated by anionic SDS surfactant and could reduce interfacial tension (IFT) from 29 (mN/m) to 6 (mN/m) at concentration of 3500 ppm. Also, viscosity increased from 14 cp. at 2000 ppm concentration to 23cp at 3500 ppm. In addition, the SDS@PVA hybrid could increase recovery up to 57% in micromodel flooding tests and presented great properties and high oil recovery in micromodel tests which indicates that it is very suitable for EOR process.