Foam-forming surfactant compositions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016347990-A1
Application number	US-201615168220-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 30, 2016
Priority date	Jun 1, 2015
Publication date	Dec 1, 2016
Grant date	—

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 two surfactants whereof at least one is a sulfosuccinamate, and at least one is a sulfosuccinate.

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 at least two 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 , wherein the sulfosuccinamate surfactant is represented by the 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,
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 + ; R is a linear or branched or cyclic aliphatic radical having from four to twenty-four carbon atoms;
X is chosen from a hydrogen atom, or an alkylcarboxylate group —(CR a R b )—COO − M 2+ where R a and R b may both be H, or R a is H and R b is —CH 2 —COO − M 1+ , where M 1+ and M 2+ 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 + .

5 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , wherein the sulfosuccinate surfactant is a sulfosuccinate diester 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 + .

6 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , wherein the sulfosuccinate surfactant is a sulfosuccinate monoester 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,
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 + .

7 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , wherein the sulfosuccinamate is selected from the group consisting of compounds of the 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,
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 + ;
R is a linear or branched or cyclic aliphatic radical having from four to twenty-four carbon atoms, and
X is H, and

compounds of the 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 alkyl-dicarboxylate group —CH [—CH 2 —COO— M 1+ ]—COO − M 2+ ;

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 + .

8 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , wherein the sulfosuccinate is selected from the group consisting of monoester sulfosuccinates having polyoxyethylene moieties in their molecules, and from the group of diester sulfosuccinates having branched saturated alkyl groups R 1 and R 2 of from four to eight carbon atoms.

9 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , which comprises a sulfosuccinamate surfactant and at least one of a monoester sulfosuccinate and a diester sulfosuccinate, 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.

10 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 1 , which comprises a sulfosuccinamate surfactant and at least one of a monoester sulfosuccinate and a diester sulfosuccinate, wherein the sulfosuccinamate is
M 1+ O − —CO—CH 2 —CH(CO—O − M 2+ )—NR—CO—CHY 5 —CHY 6 —CO—O − M 4+ ,  (Formula II)
Y 5 is H and Y 6 is (SO 3 − M 3+ ), or Y 5 is (SO 3 − M 3+ ) and Y 6 is H, M 1+ , M 2+ , 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 + ; R is a linear or branched or cyclic aliphatic radical having from four to twenty-four carbon atoms.

11 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 4 , wherein the cations of the sulfosuccinamate surfactant are independently selected from the group consisting of Li + , Na + , and K + .

12 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 11 wherein in the sulfosuccinamate surfactant, all cations are sodium cations, Na + .

13 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of any one of claims 4 to 7 and 10 , 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.

14 . The foam-forming surfactant composition of claim 13 , 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.

15 . A method

Assignees

• Cytec Ind Inc

Inventors

• Vanzin David
• Lee Dongcheel
• Kim Eunyong

Classifications

• C09K8/594

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

• C09K8/602

  containing surfactants · CPC title

• C09K8/584 Primary

  characterised by the use of specific surfactants · CPC title

• E21B43/16

  Enhanced recovery methods for obtaining hydrocarbons · CPC title

• C09K8/94

  Foams · CPC title