Surfactant Chemistry for Drilling Fluids and Enhanced Oil Recovery
This community develops and characterizes surfactants, polymers, and nanoparticles to stabilize drilling fluids and mobilize trapped hydrocarbons in oil reservoirs.
The work centers on formulating water-based and oil-based drilling fluids that maintain stability under high temperature and salt conditions, specifically addressing fluid loss control and wellbore integrity. A parallel focus is enhanced oil recovery, where cationic surfactants, ionic liquids, and nanoparticles are engineered to alter rock wettability and reduce oil-water interfacial tension in carbonate and low-permeability reservoirs. Recurring chemical systems include sodium dodecyl sulfate, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, and various biosurfactants. Methodologies frequently involve molecular dynamics simulations, neutron scattering, and interfacial tension measurements to understand the interaction between these additives and porous media.
The largest share of the community's output is found in sodium research (1.6% of all sodium research) and bromine research (3.8% of all bromine research). Sodium is also the element with the highest paper count within this group, contributing 4,924 papers.
The community comprises 24,421 papers, publishing most frequently in Langmuir, the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, and the Journal of Molecular Liquids.
Recent work continues to focus on high-temperature and salt-resistant fluid loss reducers for water-based drilling fluids, as well as the use of nanoparticles and biosurfactants to mobilize residual oil in carbonate reservoirs.