Experimental Investigation of Novel Green Solvents for Improving Oil Recovery through Interfacial Tension

The rise in demand for energy forces us to extract oil as much as possible. A variety of methods should be used for that categorized as primary, secondary, and tertiary techniques. Tertiary methods known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR) have been applied mostly to maturing reservoirs. To implement more efficient EOR methods, new materials and technologies should be used. Ionic liquids (IL) were highly regarded for chemical EOR in the last decade until researchers raised concerns about their cost, and environmental impacts. Recently, deep eutectic solvents (DES) were discovered and known as a potential replacement for ILs due to their non-toxic nature, biodegradable, non-flammable nature, and cost. In this study, the effectiveness of DES is investigated by observing its ability to change Interfacial tension (IFT). The studies included the effects of pressure, temperature, salinity, and concentration. The optimum salinity point was obtained as 100000ppm and after that the effect was minimal. The IFT changes with pressure change were negligible, while temperature proved to be the most affecting parameter. Overall, the study suggests that IFT changes using DES in the chemical EOR method for light crudes will not be a limiting factor at reservoir conditions.