Thermophysical interface properties of crude oil and aqueous solution containing sulfate anions: experimental and modeling approaches

Abstract

Sulfate anion is well-known for being one of the most active agents to be injected into the oil reservoirs and being capable of not only altering the interfacial properties of crude oil but also enhancing the water solution properties in oil recovery. In the current study, the effects of temperature and pressure were studied on interfacial tension (IFT) as well as the adsorption behavior of two different solutions containing sulfate anion using experimental measurements and modeling approaches. Although it was expected that IFT values of the studied systems might decrease as temperature increased due to the improvement in the molecule mobility and solubility of crude oil in water, which consequently might lead to the reduction in its free energy, the reverse trend was observed. The measured dynamic IFT values and adsorption behavior revealed that surface excess concentration of natural surfactants (Г_NS) can be considered as the most effective parameter on interpreting IFT behavior as a function of temperature.