Foam-forming surfactant compositions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10655054-B2
Application number	US-201615168220-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2016
Priority date	Jun 1, 2015
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

This invention relates to foam-forming surfactant compositions having at least two surfactants whereof at least one is a sulfosuccinamate, and at least one is a sulfosuccinate, and optionally including, a solvent. Methods of recovering oil or gas by generating a foam, feeding the foam into a subterranean oil- or gas-bearing geological formation, and collecting mineral oil or natural gas driven by the foam in a production well, wherein the foam is generated by intimate mixing of one or more foam-forming surfactant compositions described herein with a gas in a foam generator, or by introduction of at least one of water and gases, together or intermittently or in alternating sequence, slugs of a gas which may be in a supercritical or non-supercritical state, and of water, wherein the foam-forming surfactant composition(s) can be admixed to the water or to the gas if the gas is in a supercritical state or be introduced separately as solution into the geological formation, are also provided.

First claim

We claim:

1. A foam-forming surfactant composition comprising at least one sulfosuccinamate surfactant compound of formula:
R—NX—CO—CHY 1 —CHY 2 —CO—O − M 4+ ,  (Formula I),

where
Y 1 is H and Y 2 is (SO 3 − M 3+ ), or Y 1 is (SO 3 − M 3+ ) and Y 2 is H,
R is a linear or branched or cyclic aliphatic radical having from four to twenty-four carbon atoms, and
X is an alkylcarboxylate group —(CR a R b )—COO − M 2+ where R a and R b may both be H, or one of R a or R b is H and the other is —CH 2 —COO − M 1+ , where M 1+ and M 2+ and M 3+ and M 4+ may be the same or different, and each is independently selected from the group consisting of the cations of the chemical elements of groups 1 and 2 of the Periodic Table of the Elements, consisting of the alkali metals, and the earth alkali metals, and from ammonium NH 4 + ; and
at least one monoester sulfosuccinate surfactant compound of formula
R 1 —O—CO—CHY 3 —CHY 4 —CO—O—R 2 ,  (Formula III),

where
Y 3 is H and Y 4 is (SO 3 − M + ), or Y 3 is (SO 3 − M + ) and Y 4 is H;
one of R 1 and R 2 may be selected from the group consisting of linear or branched or cyclic aliphatic radicals having from four to twenty-four carbon atoms, and
the other of R 1 and R 2 is a hydrogen atom or an alkali metal selected from the group consisting of the cations of the chemical elements of groups 1 and 2 of the Periodic Table of the Elements, consisting of the alkali metals, and the earth alkali metals, and from ammonium NH 4 + , and
M + is selected from the group consisting of the cations of the chemical elements of groups 1 and 2 of the Periodic Table of the Elements, consisting of the alkali metals, and the earth alkali metals, and from ammonium NH 4 + .

2. A foam-forming surfactant composition according to claim 1 further comprising a solvent selected from the group consisting of water, aqueous salt solutions, liquefied gases, supercritical gases, and mixtures thereof.

3. The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , wherein the mass fraction w(SF) of the surfactants, calculated as the ratio of the sum of their masses m(SF) to the mass m(FC) of the foam-forming surfactant composition, is from 0.5 g/kg to 100 g/kg.

4. The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , further comprising a diester sulfosuccinate surfactant represented by the formula
R 1 —O—CO—CHY 3 —CHY 4 —CO—O—R 2 ,  (Formula III)

where
Y 3 is H and Y 4 is (SO 3 − M + ), or Y 3 is (SO 3 − M + ) and Y 4 is H;
both R 1 and R 2 may be the same or different, and each is independently selected from the group consisting of linear or branched or cyclic aliphatic radicals having from four to twenty-four carbon atoms, and
M + is selected from the group consisting of the cations of the chemical elements of groups 1 and 2 of the Periodic Table of the Elements, consisting of the alkali metals, and the earth alkali metals, and from ammonium NH 4 + .

5. The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 4 , wherein
each of R 1 and R 2 is selected from a branched saturated alkyl group having from four to eight carbon atoms.

6. The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , wherein
X is an alkyl-dicarboxylate group —CH[—CH 2 —COO − M 1+] ]—COO − M 2+ .

7. The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , wherein the monoester sulfosuccinate is selected from the group consisting of monoester sulfosuccinates having polyoxyethylene moieties in their molecules.

8. The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 4 , wherein the ratio of the mass m(SSA) of sulfosuccinamates (“SSA”) to the sum of the mass m(MSS) of monoester sulfosuccinates (“MSS”) and the mass m(DSS) of diester sulfosuccinates (“DSS”) is 1:99≤m(SSA)/[m(MSS)+m(DSS)]≤99:1.

9. The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , wherein the cations of the sulfosuccinamate surfactant are independently selected from the group consisting of Li + , Na + , and K + .

10. The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 9 wherein in the sulfosuccinamate surfactant, all cations are sodium cations, Na + .

11. The foam-forming surfactant composition of any one of claims 1 - 3 , 4 , 6 , and 7 , wherein when R of Formula (I), R of Formula (II), R 1 of Formula (III), or R 2 of Formula (III) is selected from the group consisting of linear or branched or cyclic aliphatic radicals having from four to twenty-four carbon atoms, said radical includes one or more carbon-carbon double bond or a mixture of two or more of said radicals.

12. The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 11 , wherein the sulfosuccinamate surfactant is a mixture of the sodium salts of sulfosuccinamate surfactants that have mixtures of saturated octadecyl and mono-unsaturated octadecenyl radicals in their molecules as alkyl groups.

13. A method of recovering oil or gas from a subterranean oil- or gas-bearing geological formation comprising the following steps:
generating a foam using a foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 ,
feeding the foam into a subterranean oil- or gas-bearing geological formation; and
collecting mineral oil or natural gas driven by the foam in a production well, wherein the foam is generated by
intimate mixing of the foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 with a gas in a foam generator,

or by
introducing at least one of water and gases, together or intermittently or in alternating sequence, or slugs of a gas in a supercritical or non-supercritical state, and of water, wherein the foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 is admixed to the water or to the gas if the gas is in a supercritical state, or is introduced separately as solution into a subterranean oil- or gas-bearing geological formation.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the feeding and collecting steps are performed at a temperature of from 10 ° C. to 95 ° C., and wherein the foam-forming surfactant composition further comprises a diester sulfosuccinate, wherein the ratio of the mass m(SSA) of sulfosuccinamates to the sum m(MSS)+m(DSS) of the mass m(MSS) of monoester sulfosuccinates and the mass m(DSS) of diester sulfosuccinates is 20:80<m(SSA)/[m(MSS)+m(DSS)]<95:5.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the mass fraction w(SF) of the surfactants present in the foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , calculated as the ratio of the sum of their masses m(SF) to the mass m(FC) of the aqueous foam-forming surfactant composition, is from 0.5 g/kg to 100 g/kg.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sulfosuccinamate surfactant of the foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 is a mixture of the sodium salts of sulfosuccinamate surfactants that comprise mixtures of saturated octadecyl and mono-unsaturated octadecenyl radicals in their molecules as alkyl groups.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the subterranean oil- or gas-bearing geological formation has a temperature of at least 25 ° C.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the foam-forming surfactant composition and/or the water present in the subterranean oil- or gas-bearing geological formation comprises a mass fraction of at least 0.2% of dissolved inorganic salts.

Assignees

• Cytec Ind Inc

Inventors

• Awan Azhar M
• Vanzin David
• Lee Dongcheel
• Kim Eunyong

Classifications

• E21B43/16

  Enhanced recovery methods for obtaining hydrocarbons · CPC title

• C09K8/602

  containing surfactants · CPC title

• C09K8/94

  Foams · CPC title

• C09K8/584 Primary

  characterised by the use of specific surfactants · CPC title

• C09K8/594

  Compositions used in combination with injected gas {, e.g. CO2 orcarbonated gas}(C09K8/592 takes precedence) · CPC title