Combined effects of polymer/surfactant/oil/alkali on physical chemical properties Original Research Article

The combined occurrence of polymers, surfactants and alkali has been an intense area of study for many years and has long been recognized to be important in influencing the properties of mixed systems. In this work, we further examine the effect of two anionic surfactants sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and Marlon ARL (MARL) on solutions containing a biopolymer (Xanthan gum) and alkaline (NaOH) by conductivity and interfacial tension (IFT) measurements. Since alkali/surfactant/polymer (ASP) flooding is one of the most promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method and oil/water interfacial tension is one of the most important parameters for chemical EOR, we have applied the optimum ASP (A = 0.7; MARL = 2; P = 0.2) % w/w concentrations to an Algerian crude oil. The results of the measurements showed that the mixure of different compounds has an important effect on the conductivity and interfacial tension, The results also indicate that the synergetic action of the two surfactants SDS and MARL, greatly influenced the conductivity and the interfacial tension of these systems and the crude oil/water system.