THE EFFECT OF OILFIELD CHEMICALS ON THE SURFACE TENSION OF SURFACTANT SYSTEMS

Treated sea water is the most significant source of water and surfactant floods. The various chemicals employed in treatment plants should be compatible with surfactant systems. Based on surface tension experiments, the activity of these chemicals is examined over a wide range of concentrations in different solutions, including distillated water, sea water by using three types of surfactant mixtures. For this purpose, the conventional chemicals of a typical water treatment plant, namely scale inhibitor, corrosion inhibitor, biocide, O2 scavenger, coagulant, and antifoam, were selected. The results show chemicals are completely compatible with the surfactant systems in concentrations utilized for an oilfield dosage. Scale inhibitor, O2 scavenger, and coagulant did not show any surface properties, but the positive effects of the other chemicals on the reduction of the surface tension were observed. The interaction of active chemicals was evaluated using response surface methodology. The results demonstrate that antifoam had more significant effects on the reduction of the surface tension than corrosion inhibitor and biocide.