Characterization of the dynamic ift of surfactant-in-brine/n-heptane/shale systems; an enhanced oil recovery perspective

The main goal of using surfactants as a fracture agent in tight shale gas reservoirs is to minimize the capillarity, interfacial tension, modify contact angle and reservoir wettability. Most of the recent studies conducted similar experiments at ambient conditions. However, one of the limitations of different previously laboratory studies is the lack of measurements with gas as they were done using air or crude oil. The major component in shale gas is methane plus some lighter hydrocarbon. In this chapter we will investigate the surfactant solution behavior with some light hydrocarbons such as n-Heptane to better mimic reservoir hydrocarbon behavior. All necessary laboratory experiments had been conducted plus phase behavior for the selected surfactants. Anionic surfactants gave excellent aqueous stability results however; the impact of the salinity was observed carefully. An optimized formulation was achieved that resulted in type III microemulsion.