© DEC 2025 | IRE Journals | Volume 9 Issue 6 | ISSN: 2456-8880

DOI: [Link]

Comparative Analysis of A Biosurfactant with Synthetic

Surfactant for Reservoir Rock Wettability Alteration
BARBIE DAS1, BORKHA MECH2, DEEPJYOTI MECH3
1, 2, 3
Department of Petroleum Technology, Dibrugarh University

Abstract- This study explores how different synthetic and technology provides an additional opportunity to
biologically derived surfactants influence the wettability extract additional oil from the reservoir, maybe
of reservoir rocks. Wettability changes were assessed another 20 %. Surfactant is the material that plays an
using the contact angle technique, which allowed the
important role in the application of EOR technology.
effect of varying surfactant types and concentrations on
[Abdina et. al, Osama et. al., Abass et. al.] Surfactant
droplet behavior to be clearly observed. Alkaline
solutions, commonly used in enhanced oil recovery is injected into the reservoir to lower the interfacial
(EOR), were included due to their ability to interact with tension between oil and water and to remove trapped
the natural organic acids present in crude oil and oil from the reservoir rock and so improve oil
generate surface-active compounds directly at the oil– production, is crucial to the implementation of EOR
water interface. This reaction reduces interfacial tension technology. Wettability of reservoir rock is identified
and promotes improved oil displacement. Despite their as a parameter which controls the fluid pour in the
effectiveness, the increasing cost of traditional alkaline rock porosity. In a three-phase system, wettability is
chemicals and synthetic surfactants, along with concerns
defined as the greater tendency of one fluid phase to
regarding environmental impact and poor
adhere to a solid surface when compared to another
biodegradability, has prompted the search for more
sustainable alternatives. Bio-surfactants, particularly immiscible fluid phase. The wetting phase refers to
saponin-based compounds that naturally produce foam in the first fluid, and the non-wetting phase refers to the
water, offer a promising, environmentally friendly, and second fluid. Strongly water-wet, water-wet, neutral
potentially more economical option for EOR processes. wet, oil-wet, and strongly oil-wet are only a few
This work provides a comparative evaluation of these examples of the vast range of wettability that results
surfactants, highlighting their capability to alter from the interaction between the rock surface and the
wettability and supporting the development of greener two immiscible fluids. The contact angle is the most
chemical flooding methods.
practical and accurate wettability measurement
method out of all the available options. According to
Index Terms- Enhanced Oil Recovery, surfactant
flooding, wettability, contact angle. Andrew et al. (2014), contact angle is the primary
factor that encourages flow during the non-wetting
I. INTRODUCTION period. The contact angle measurements are carried
out to assess the reservoir’s wettability during the last
Since energy crises are getting worse and more few years. Due to water’s larger density than oil, the
threatening, several countries are paying more contact angle in a water/oil/rock system is determined
attention to improve oil recovery (EOR) technology by holding angle in water.
recently. One of the causes of this is the scarcity of
available oil resources and the challenges associated Introduction to Reservoir analysis and its importance
with discovering new oil fields. One of the instances in oil industry
is Indonesia, which was an oil exporting nation The technique of estimating a reservoir's performance
before 2004 but is now an oil importing nation. The over the course of its whole production life is referred
nation’s demand for oil is rising while its ability to to as reservoir analysis. To produce subsurface data,
produce it is declining. In actuality, when a new oil it integrates the analysis of pores, rocks, and fluids
reservoir is drilled, only 20 to 40 % of the potential from various reservoirs. Additionally, it uses
oil is actually extracted, leaving 60 to 80 % of the optimisation methods to reduce the discrepancy
potential oil in the reservoir. The use of EOR

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between the projected reaction and actual data while Tension (IFT) between the injected fluid and the
estimating the dynamic rock and fluid parameters. reservoir oil. It is a chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery
technique (CEOR) in which a small amount of
In determining the fluid properties, well pressures, surfactant (0.3 to 1.0 volume %) is mixed with the
and hydrocarbon flow rates, reservoir analysis is injected fluid (water) to sweep the reservoir oil.
crucial. Additionally, they contribute the necessary Surfactants are blended with co-surfactants which
information for oil and gas project planning, acts as active agents to enhance the properties of
engineering, construction, and completion. [Bonell et. surfactant solution and helps to sustain optimal
al., Ahmed et. al., Wei et. al.] conditions with respect to pressure, temperature and
salinity. The presence of surfactants also improves
The Process of Reservoir Analysis's Major Steps the wettability (oil-wet to water-wet) of reservoir
Data collection: During this stage, major players in rock to enhance the recovery of oil. Surfactants also
the reservoir analysis market and other oil businesses improve the recovery of residual oil through other
gather unprocessed data from a variety of sources, mechanisms like micro-emulsification of trapped
including well logs, fluid analyses, and routine well residual oil and by changing the interfacial
production tests. rheological properties. Sometimes, the surfactants
and cosurfactants, along with other components of
Data processing: Log analyses, structural maps, the aqueous solution form a micro emulsion. In
geological models, cross sections, and other data are primary and secondary recovery less than 50% of the
used in this reservoir analysis step. oil can be produced and the residual oil gets trapped
in the pores due to capillary forces. Therefore, in
Data Integration and Reservoir Characterization: By chemical enhance oil recovery (cEOR), surfactant
processing and integrating the available data, solution is injected into the reservoir which reduces
reservoir characterization strives to provide the most the capillary forces by greatly lowering the interfacial
accurate reconstruction of a reservoir tension. [Kazarika et. al., Massarweh et.
al.,Gbadamosi [Link]. al]
Coal, oil, and gas reserves are investigated using
reservoir analysis. These fuels and energy sources are Wettability & Contact angle
employed in a variety of industries, including
transportation, electricity production, and aviation. Wetting is the ability of a liquid to maintain contact
with a solid surface, resulting from intermolecular
Due to a significant increase in global population, interactions when the two are brought together. This
there is a greater demand for oil and gas. Major oil happens in presence of a gaseous phase or another
firms are working to exploit remote oil and gas liquid phase not miscible with the first one. The
resources that were previously inaccessible due to degree of wetting (wettability) is determined by a
technological limitations in order to meet the growing force balance between adhesive and cohesive forces.
demand. Therefore, it has become crucial for Wetting is important in the bonding or adherence of
businesses to maintain the fields' optimal two materials. Wetting and the surface forces that
performance and the necessary output. The level of control wetting are also responsible for other related
energy supply has increased as a result of the effects, including capillary effects. There are two
escalating demand. types of wetting: non-reactive wetting and reactive
wetting.
II. APPLICATION OF SURFACTANT IN
ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY Wetting deals with three phases of matter: gas, liquid,
and solid. It is now a center of attention in
Surfactant flooding is an Enhanced Oil Recovery nanotechnology and nanoscience studies due to the
technique in which the mobility of residual oil in the advent of many nanomaterials in the past two
reservoir is increased by reducing the Interfacial

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decades (e.g. graphene, carbon nanotube, boron The core is cleaned using the soxhlet apparatus. The
nitride nanomesh) samples are placed in the extractor and cleaned by
Adhesive forces between a liquid and solid cause a refluxing solvent. The solvent in this closed system is
liquid drop to spread across the surface. Cohesive externally heated and vaporized continuusly in a
forces within the liquid cause the drop to ball up and flask, flow through the samples in the extraction tube,
avoid contact with the surface. condenses at the top of the assembly. The condensate
falls back into the sample chamber.
The contact angle is the angle, conventionally
measured through the liquid, where a liquid vapor b. Grain size analysis
interface meets a solid surface. It quantifies the Equipment used are Balance, set of sieves, Cleaning
wettability of a solid surface by a liquid via the brush, Sieve shaker, Beaker. The grain size
Young equation. A given system of solid, liquid, and distribution of core samples was carried out by sieve
vapor at a given temperature and pressure has a analysis method. For this purpose, core samples were
unique equilibrium contact angle. However, in cleaned, dried and crushed using pestle and mortar.
practice a dynamic phenomenon of contact angle Care was taken not to break the grains. Sieves of
hysteresis is often observed, ranging from the different US standard mesh sizes were racked on a
advancing (maximal) contact angle to the receding sieve shaker with bottom pan and top cover. 100
(minimal) contact angle. The equilibrium contact is grams of the prepared sample was poured onto the
within those values, and can be calculated from them. top sieve and the sample was sieved for ten minutes.
The equilibrium contact angle reflects the relative The sieves were removed and unloaded and were
strength of the liquid, solid, and vapour molecular brushed thoroughly to remove each grain. The sand
interaction. [Taylor et al., Kamal et. al.] in each sieve and in the bottom pan was measured
accurately. The percentage by weight of the total
The contact angle depends upon the medium above sand sample retained on each sieve and in the pan
the free surface of the liquid, and the nature of the was calculated. Sieving is commonly used in
liquid and solid in contact. It is independent of the determining the grain size distribution of a particular
inclination of solid to the liquid surface. It changes core sample. The dried sample is placed in the
with surface tension and hence with the temperature uppermost sieve in a set of stacked sieves. The stack
and purity of the liquid. of sieves arranged in order so that the coarsest sieve
is at the top with finer ones below (with a pan at the
The objective of this paper is to analyze reservoir bottom to catch any sediment that passes through the
rock wettability alteration using different types of lowest and finest sieve) is placed on a shaking
surfactants such as Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS), machine. After ten minutes of shaking, 25 samples
Sodium Dodecylbenzenesulphate (SDBS) and collected from each sieve and from pan are weighed
biosurfactant (Soapnut fruit or Reetha seeds powder). and further calculations and graphical analysis are
Contact angle studies were done to select suitable done to study grain size analysis.
concentration of the surfactants for surfactant
flooding and determine the recovery of oil from that
suitable concentration of surfactants.

III. EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

Material used
Synthetic surfactant - Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS),
Sodium Dodecylbenzenesulphate(SDBS) and
biosurfactant – reetha seeds powder.
Methods employed
a. Core cleaning

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Fig : Set of sieves in Mechanical shaker

Fig: Samples retained

c. Determination of Porosity
There are four methods to measure porosity namely:
mercury porosimetry, helium pycnometry, image
analysis and liquid saturation method. In this project,
the Liquid saturation method is used to determine the
porosity.

Liquid Saturation method

The objective of this method is determining the bulk
Fig: Core Sample volume, pore volume and effective porosity of a core
sample Procedure: First, take a cylindrical shaped dry
core. weight of the dry core (W1) is measured with
the help of a weighing machine. Saturate the core
sample in brine solution. The brine solution along
with the core sample is placed inside a vacuum
desiccator with vacuum pump. This is done to let the
air bubbles come out of the core and completely
saturate it. Measure the weight of the saturated core
(W2). The pore volume (PV) can be determined by
the formula:
PV=

Fig: Pestle and mortar

Choice of Grade Scale: In general, a grade scale

should form a useful basis for description and
comparison of results; it should not be affected by the
technique of measurement and preferably it should
have some physical justification. On the basis of
these criteria few of the grade scales proposed are
justified. By far the most useful and accepted scale is
the one proposed by Wentworth.
Fig: Core sample

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Fig : Fruit pericarp Fig: Soapnut fruit

Then, the length and diameter of the core is measured

with the help of a Vernier calliper. The bulk volume
(BV) of the core is measured with the help of the f. Determination of wettability
formula for cylinder volume . The porosity of the FAMAS (InterFace Measurement and Analysis
core sample is measured by the formula: System) software measures and analyzes the surface
phenomena of solids and liquids, and present
ϕ=
physical properties of contact angles in static and
dynamic ranges, liquid surface/interfacial tension,
d. Preparation of synthetic surfactant and surface free energy. When measuring contact
Surfactant used are SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate) , angles, most tools show images in black and white,
SDBS (Sodium Dodecyl benzenesulfonate) and bio not grayscale. FAMAS, however, uses a unique
surfactant.) algorithm to creates a rich silhouette of the droplet,
the most important object in the image, allowing the
Preparation of SLS (sodium Lauryl Sulphate) outline of the droplet to be measured correctly to
The surfactant is prepared in distilled water with produce more accurate data.
concentrations of 0.1 to 0.5 M. Each sample is well
mixed with distilled mixture using a magnetic stirrer.
The sample is stored in the conical tubes.

Preparation of SDBS (Sodium Dodecyl

benzenesulfonate)
The surfactant is prepared in distilled water with
concentrations of 0.1 to 0.5 M • Each sample is well
mixed with distilled mixture using a magnetic stirrer.
The sample is stored in the conical tubes.

e. Preparation of biosurfactant
Soapnut fruit was collected from a nearby area. The Fig: Contact angle meter (FAMAS)
samples were collected randomly from the stock. The
fruit pericarps were dried in an oven at 500C for 36 IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
h. The dried pericarp shells were crushed to a fine
powder, which was added to distilled water. The a. Grain size analysis
mixture was mixed using a magnetic stirrer. The
sample was stored in conical tubes. [Shetty [Link]]

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b. Determination of Porosity
Liquid Saturation Method
ϕ=
Dry weight of core sample = 70.624g
Wet weight of core sample = 75.021g For bio surfactant
Main Scale Reading of core sample = 38 mm
Vernier Scale Reading = 7*0.05 = 0.35mm
Diameter of the core sample = 38+0.35 = 38.35 mm
= 3.835 cm
Radius of the core sample = 38.35/2 =19.175 mm =
1.9175 cm
Height of the core sample
Main Scale Reading = 28 mm
Vernier Scale Reading = 8*0.05 = 0.4 mm
Height of the core sample = 28+0.4 = 28.4 mm =
2.84 cm.
Therefore, Bulk Volume = 32.8 cm3
Pore volume = d. Determination of contact angle and wettability
= 4.397 cm3 • Contact angle (degree)vs SLS concentration(M)

Porosity =

=
= 13.4%

c. Determination of wettability
For SLS

Fig: Contact angle (degree)vs SLS concentration(M)

• Contact angle (degree)vs SDBS concentration(M)

For SDBS

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• As the surfactant concentration increases, the

wettability of rock changes. Contact angle
decreases with increasing concentration of
surfactant.
• SLS and SDBS almost had the same effect on
sandstone rock.
• Bio surfactant prepared from soapnut fruit had the
finest effect on wettability alteration.
• By contrasting between used surfactants, the
greatest contact angle lessening and altering
Fig: Contact angle (degree) vs SDBS wettability was made by bio surfactant.
concentration(M) • By considering these results and the literature-
• Contact angle (degree) vs Bio surfactant presented results, among all types of surfactants,
concentration (M) bio surfactant had the best effect on the
wettability of rock.
• In countries like China, India and Indonesia, the
Soapnut tress trees are abundant. Due to the
biodegradability, neutrality, low price, suitable
effects on the wettability of rocks and
environmentally friendly properties of this
surfactant, it can be suggested for chemical oil
recovery process.

REFERENCES

Fig: Contact angle(degree) vs biosurfactant

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