Experimental investigation on new derived natural surfactant: wettability alteration, IFT reduction, and core flooding in oil wet carbonate reservoir

It is necessary to enhance oil production from reservoir due to increase of the fossil fuel consumption that results of industrial life development. Surfactant flooding is a popular method to enhance oil recovery by IFT reduction and wettability alteration. In this study, a new natural surfactant that extracted from Cordia myxa leaf is used for surfactant flooding. The effect of this natural surfactant on IFT and wettability is investigated experimentally. Then, surfactant flooding is applied in a carbonate core sample. The results show the IFT of solution was reduced from 33/28mN/M at 0 wt% to 16.24 mN/M at 6 wt% by increasing natural surfactant concentration. More than, contact angle was decreased from 137.05° at 0 wt. % to 130.65° at 5.5 wt. %. The core flooding results show C. myxa flooding increased 27% more oil recovery compared to water flooding and reduced residual oil saturation in porous media. The results show C. myxa can be applicable as a green surfactant for enhancing oil recovery.