Enhancing Surfactant-Polymer Flooding with Sacrificial Surfactants: Reducing Adsorption and Boosting Oil Recovery in High-Salinity Reservoirs

Abstract

Surfactant polymer flooding is frequently constrained by the adsorption of high-cost primary surfactants onto reservoir rock, which lowers chemical efficiency and increases operational costs. This work presents a systematic laboratory assessment of sacrificial surfactants used as adsorption inhibitors to enhance surfactant polymer flooding performance in a Russian clastic reservoir with highly saline formation water. A comprehensive experimental workflow was implemented, integrating compatibility screening, static and dynamic adsorption measurements supported by high-precision HPLC analysis, and final verification through coreflood displacement experiments.

An initial screening of twelve commercially available sacrificial surfactants was conducted in combination with a base surfactant polymer formulation. Seven candidates were selected based on solution stability and favorable interfacial tension characteristics. Static adsorption experiments performed on disaggregated reservoir rock