The Quantitative Analysis of Adsorbed Petroleum Sulfonates
Authors: Smith Larry , Malmberg E.W. , Kelley H.W. , Fowler Sara 
Published: December 2007

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

This paper was prepared for the 45th Annual California Regional Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, held in Ventura, Calif., April 2–4, 1975. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

In laboratory screening of surfactant formulations, comparative values for losses of petroleum sulfonates due to adsorption on petroleum sulfonates due to adsorption on porous media can be determined by (a) injecting porous media can be determined by (a) injecting the formulation into berea sandstone cores at the temperature and with the brine of the proposed application, (b) flushing with brine, proposed application, (b) flushing with brine, (c) flushing with isopropyl alcohol, and (d) analysis of the eluted sulfonates. Effluent samples are analyzed by a modification of the Epton titration and the sulfonates contained in the isopropyl alcohol eluent are taken to be those adsorbed. Further, the effluent samples may be analyzed microgravimetrically to determine the average equivalent weight of the petroleum sulfonates. petroleum sulfonates

Introduction

Surfactants in contact with reservoir mineral exhibit several types of behavior. Adsorption of the surfactant is of interest since the concentration of the surfactant in the liquid phase is decreased and the efficiency and life of the process are diminished.

A few recent papers on surfactant flooding have reported losses of the surfactants by adsorption. The experimental and analytical methods of determining adsorption losses in these papers include (a) flowing surfactant over a bed of crushed rock, flushing with brine, drying and extracting with methanol-benzene; (b) analysis of effluent fractions from berea cores by gravimetric methods and calculation of surfactant loss by material balance; (c) recirculation of surfactant through a berea core to equilibrium and determination of the adsorption loss by material balance; and (d) flowing surfactant through a berea core, flushing with brine followed by 50 percent isopropyl alcohol and analysis for radioactive surfactant in the effluent.

While similar in many respects to these methods, the general procedure described affords reliable data with facility in screening surfactant systems for comparative adsorption losses. In the present paper we wish to discuss the general method further, particularly the quantitative analysis of particularly the quantitative analysis of petroleum sulfonates in effluent samples. petroleum sulfonates in effluent samples.