Comparative study of nanoemulsion and micelle formed by surfactants containing benzene ring for spontaneous imbibition displacement

Nanoemulsion has a wide range of applications in oilfield chemistry due to its unique nanoscale size, excellent kinetic stability and high specific surface area. In this paper, a novel nanoemulsion oil flooding system was prepared using anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), the nonionic surfactant alkylphenol ethoxylates (OP-10), kerosene, n-butanol and deionized water. The particle size, Zeta potential, interfacial tension (IFT) and wettability properties were evaluated in the laboratory. The displacement performance of nanoemulsion was evaluated by the spontaneous imbibition experiment. Meanwhile, it compared with the same concentration of SDBS + OP-10 + n-butanol (SOB) system. The results showed that the particle size of the nanoemulsion was 70 ∼ 100 nm. When the concentration of nanoemulsion was 0.10 %, the oil–water IFT could reach 0.091 mN/m. The spontaneous imbibition oil recovery of the nanoemulsion (0.10 wt%) could reach 33.20 %, which was 23.02 % higher than that of SOB system. We also research the spontaneous imbibition displacement mechanism of nanoemulsion and micelle in low-permeability reservoirs. This paper will help to select the best oil displacement agent for the design of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects and promote the application of oil displacement agent in oilfield.