Synthesis a New Family Hybrid Anionic / Nonionic Surfactant and Investigation their Physical Properties in relation to Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract This study details the synthesis of a new class family of surfactants with dual anionic and nonionic moieties. The maleic anhydride reacted with 1-octene to prepare the corresponding 2-octenyl succinic anhydride. Then, this anhydride was esterified with prepared ethoxylated alcohols (ethylene oxide = 20 units) having different alkyl chains to obtain nonionic moiety surfactants named as; NMAE-10, NMAE-12 and NMAE-14. The sulfonation was carried for the nonionic surfactant by using sodium bisulfite to get three anionic moiety surfactants designated as; AMAES-10, AMAES-12 and AMAES-14. Infrared spectroscopy and ¹H NMR confirmed the surfactants' structures. At 50°C, Alkane carbon number (ACN) and nmin were calculated by comparing n-hydrocarbon scans from n-C₆ to n-C₁₆ with the interfacial tension at the CMC. The work adhesion (Wa), spreading coefficient and surface charge energy for these surfactants were determined from interfacial tension, surface tension and contact angle measurements. A sand back model was utilized to examine the crude oil recovery factor at 50 °C. The obtained results indicated that, these surfactants have excellent performance in the term of surface activity and thermodynamics properties. Notably, AMAES-12 exhibits the most significant reduction in surface tension (16.3 mN/m) and the lowest interfacial tension (0.01 mN/m) at 50 ⁰C. The contact angle data demonstrated that, the prepared surfactants have efficiency to make alteration in wettability. The AMAES-12 achieved the maximum total oil recovery arrived 92.3% of the original from oil in place (OOIP).