The effect of the glucose-based surfactant on surface/interfacial and foam ability properties

Abstract

An eco-friendly glucose-based cationic nonionic surfactant (GDBB) was successfully synthesized by glucosum anhydrous, dodecyl amine and bromoethane. The structure of the GDBB was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer(FT-IR) and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR). Its adsorption morphology on surface was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Compared with the dodecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (DTAB), the GDBB exhibited lower critical micelle concentration (cmc ≈ 5 × 10⁻⁴mol/L) and surface tension (γ_cmc ≈ 24.2 mN/m), and it could reduce the oil/water IFT to 10⁻³mN/m at 0.3% concentration for Dagang oil. Moreover, Based on the research of the foam half-life (t_1/2) and the microscope of foam structure, we found that the GDBB had good foam stability. The oil displacement experiment indicated that the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) was 13.6% by using GDBB while 9.3% by using DTAB.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
• foam ability
• glucose
• interfacial tension
• surface activity