Microemulsion flooding for enhanced oil recovery

Petroleum recovery methods basically consist of fluid injection aiming to displace the oil out of the rock pores. Among the methods used in enhanced oil recovery, chemical methods, which may involve microemulsion flooding, are cited. In this work, injection assays have been carried out with two types of microemulsion: one was prepared with a commercial surfactant (MCS) and another contained a surfactant synthesized in laboratory (MLS). The experiments basically consisted of the injection of fluids into cylindrical plug samples from the Assu Formation (RN, Brazil). During the microemulsion flooding, samples were collected as a function of time and the mass of oil recovered by the microemulsion was determined. From the results obtained, one could conclude that the use of microemulsion prepared with the commercial MCS allowed for recovery indices as high as 87.5%, whilst the use of the MLS microemulsion permitted recovery indices as high as 78.7%. This was mainly due to the difference in viscosity between the two microemulsions used.