Relating IFT with Oil Recovery with Special Reference to Bhogpara Porous Media of Upper Assam Basin

Abstract

The present study examines the effect of surfactant flooding through the porous media of Bhogpara core sample for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The work will try to examine the interfacial tension (IFT) of the aqueous phase in which a surfactant is added and the oleic phase, which is the paraffin oil. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) was noted at the minimum IFT. The highlight of this work is that with the reduction of IFT the oil recovery was observed to be the maximum in a water-flooded porous medium. This results in substantial increase in the amount of petroleum obtainable from a given porous media and thereby leads to EOR. The surfactant used is black liquor (BL), which is cheap, locally available, and emanates as an effluent from Nowgong Paper Mill, Jagiroad, Assam, India.

Keywords: Black liquor, critical micelle concentration, enhanced oil recovery, interfacial tension, porous media