THE SURFACTANT SYNTHESIS OPTIMIZATION OF SULFONATED ALKYL ESTER (SAE) AND ESTERS OLEIC POLY-ETHYLENE GLYCOL (EOP) TO IMPROVE SURFACTANT PERFORMANCE FOR ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY (EOR) APPLICATIONS

• Main Author: Syahrian Fathur Rizqy, Mohammad
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Kimia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/55069
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Sulfonate alkyl ester (SAE) surfactant is a sulfonate-based surfactant that used to increase the oil production. In its application, a surfactant can be mixed with other surfactants to improve its performance in several parameters. In several studies, the performance of SAE surfactants can be improved by adding nonionic surfactants, namely ester oleic poly-ethylene glycol (EOP). When the mixture of SAE and EOP surfactants were dissolved in brine, a cloudy colloid solution was formed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to optimize the synthesis of sulfonate alkyl ester (SAE) and ester oleic poly-ethylene glycol (EOP) in order to obtain optimum results, therefore the mixture of the two surfactants become more homogeneous when dissolved in brine. Sulfonate alkyl ester (SAE) and esters oleic poly-ethylene glycol (EOP) surfactant have been successfully synthesized from oleic acid and PEG 400 with a sulfonating agent. The synthesized surfactants were characterized by TLC and FTIR. The synthesized SAE and EOP surfactants had HLB and HLD values, respectively, 11,90 and 12,82; -4,36 and -0,53 which indicate that both surfactants were an oil-to-water (O/W) emulsifying agent. The compatibility of the two surfactants was tested, i.e. the solution stability test, interfacial tension test, and phase behavior test in various experiments and mixed variations between SAE and EOP. The results of the compatibility test showed that the mole ratio of oleic acid with PEG 400 in 1: 1 was the optimum condition. The mixture between SAE and EOP named 01A and 01C showed homogeneity untilday seventh, had an interfacial tension (IFT) value of about 1.88 x 10-3 mN / m which was categorized as the ultralow IFT, and formed a microemulsion when tested for phase behavior at 63 oC . As a conclusion, the mixture of sulfonate alkyl ester (SAE) and ester oleic poly-ethylene glycol (EOP) surfactant can be applied for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).