Synthesis of a new sulfobetaine surfactant with double long alkyl chains and its performances in surfactant-polymer flooding

ABSTRACT

A new zwitterionic surfactant with double long alkyl chains, 3-((3-((1,3-bis (decyloxyl) propane-2-yl) oxy) -2-hydroxypropyl) dimethylamonio) -2-hydroxypropane-1-sulfonate (diC₁₀GE-HSB), was synthesized, and its performances in Surfactant-Polymer (SP) flooding were studied. As a hydrophobic surfactant diC₁₀GE-HSB solely cannot reduce Daqing crude oil/connate water IFT to ultralow, but ultralow IFT can be achieved by using binary mixtures of diC₁₀GE-HSB with various conventional hydrophilic surfactants such as α–olefin sulfonates, dodecyl polyoxyethylene (10) ether, and cetyl dimethyl hydroxypropyl sulfobetaine, over a wide total concentration range (0.625 ∼ 10 mM) at reservoir temperature. This new sulfobetaine surfactant is therefore a good candidate for SP flooding free of alkali.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Derivative of dialkyl glyceryl ether
• double-chain sulfobetaine surfactant
• sp flooding
• ultralow interfacial tension

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant Number JUSRP51405A] and Fundamental Research Funds for Key Laboratories of Ministry of Education [Grant Number JUSRP51507].