Synthesis of aluminium alkylbenzene sulfonate and its behavior as a flow improver for crude oil

Abstract Low-molecular flow improvers for crude oil are becoming increasingly important chemical agents for crude oil production in oil fields. In this work, three alkyl benzene sulfonates were synthesized and evaluated as flow improvers for crude oil. The results show that the three flow improvers have an effect on L8401 crude oil (heavy oil). Among them, aluminium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (AlDBS) has the best effect as it reduces the viscosity rate by more than 80%. After adding 900 mg/L AlDBS, the freezing point is lowered by 15 °C. The crude oil flow improvement was proven with microphotographs. The co-crystallization behavior after addition of the agent interacts with the saturated hydrocarbons in the crude oil, which is the reason for lowering the freezing point of crude oil. Moreover, infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry analysis (DSC) were used to illustrate the interaction mechanism between low-molecular flow improvers for crude oil and the components in crude oil.