Extended surfactants are molecules including an intramolecular extension that allow attaining high performance without the need for cosurfactant or linker alcohol. The polypropylene oxide chain intramolecular extension generates a polarity transition inside the molecule that produces more interactions with the oil and aqueous phases. The idea was developed in the 1990s, basically to fasten together the rather hydrophilic surfactant and the lipophilic linker, producing the same effect as the mixture without losing a part of the lipophilic linker going away from the interface. Since the lipophilic linker was an amphiphile with a small hydrophilic part located close to the interface, the single structure was developed to imitate the mixture situation. It contains a polar head located in water, then an intermediate slightly polar zone in the oil phase close to the interface, and finally, the surfactant classical hydrocarbon tail.
This is an entry from Forgiarini, A.M.; Marquez, R.; Salager, J.-L. Molecules 2021, 26, 3771. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26123771
Laboratorio Firp, Universidad de Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela
1. Introduction
The synthesis of surfactants for the solubilization of complex oils, including crude oils and polar oils, has been widely researched since the late 1970s
[1][2]. After petroleum sulfonates were introduced
[3][4][5], it was necessary to develop high-performance surfactants with reasonable production costs to advance surfactant flooding processes. Henceforth, ethoxylated oleyl sulfonates (EOS) were introduced
[6][7] as the first surfactants that presented an extension from the usual alkyl chain—sulfate head surfactants. The first EOS surfactants had 2-3 ethylene oxide groups in their structure, which allowed a somewhat higher performance, although still with the need of cosurfactants to achieve high solubilizations and low IFT
[6]. They were tried with long-chain hydrocarbons as the oil phase, e.g., hexadecane and paraffin oils
[6][7]. Then, an additional intramolecular extension with four polypropylene oxide (PO) groups was added to sulfate surfactants
[8], which allowed attaining high performance without the need for cosurfactant alcohol. This was a significant advancement in the simplification of the system, using an innovative solution, i.e., including a PO-EO intramolecular extension to generate the polarity transition inside the molecule that produced more interactions with the oil and aqueous phases. A summary and classification of the sulfate head extended surfactants developed since 1992 with the reported surfactant classification parameter (SCP
N)
[9][10][11] is presented in
Table 1. Nevertheless, other molecules have been developed with different types of polar heads (carboxylate, xylitol, glucose derived, ethoxylated nonionic), as summarized in the 2019 review
[2].
Table 1.
Molecular structure and classification of sulfate head extended surfactants according to its normalized characteristic parameter (SCPN)
[2]
-
Extended Surfactant 1
|
σ
|
k
|
SCPN= σ/k*
|
Author and year
|
Ref.
|
S/12/6/2/SO4
|
-1.43
|
0.075
|
-19.1
|
Miñana-Perez, 1995
|
[13]
|
S/12/10/2/SO4
|
-0.3
|
0.11
|
-2.7
|
Miñana-Perez, 1995
|
[13]
|
S/12/14/2/SO4
|
1.21
|
0.16
|
7.6
|
Miñana-Perez, 1995
|
[13]
|
A/14-15/8/0/SO4
|
0.16
|
0.13
|
1.2
|
Witthayapanyanon, 2006
|
[30]
|
A/10/18/2/SO4
|
0.57
|
0.053
|
10.8
|
Do, 2009
|
[39]
|
A/14-15/4/0/SO4
|
-0.18
|
0.11
|
-1.6
|
Velásquez, 2010
|
[24]
|
A/16-17/4/0/SO4
|
-0.29
|
0.11
|
-2.6
|
Velásquez, 2010
|
[24]
|
A/12-13/8/0/SO4
|
-0.52
|
0.08
|
-6.5
|
Velásquez, 2010
|
[24]
|
A/12-13/4/0/SO4
|
-0.98
|
0.11
|
-8.9
|
Velásquez, 2010
|
[24]
|
Chen/8/9/3/SO4
|
-0.39
|
0.17
|
-2.3
|
Chen, 2019
|
[40]
|
A/12-13/4/0/SO4
|
-1.55
|
0.049
|
-31.6
|
Wang, 2019
|
[41]
|
He/13/2/0/SO4
|
-1.8
|
0.056
|
-32.1
|
He, 2019
|
[42]
|
A/10/4/0/SO4
|
-2.24
|
0.053
|
-42.3
|
Phaodee, 2020
|
[43]
|
Extended Surfactant 1 | σ | k | SCPN = σ/k * | Author and Year | Ref. |
---|
S/12/6/2/SO4 | −1.43 | 0.075 | −19.1 | Miñana-Perez, 1995 | [13] |
S/12/10/2/SO4 | −0.3 | 0.11 | −2.7 | Miñana-Perez, 1995 | [13] |
S/12/14/2/SO4 | 1.21 | 0.16 | 7.6 | Miñana-Perez, 1995 | [13] |
A/14−15/8/0/SO4 | 0.16 | 0.13 | 1.2 | Witthayapanyanon, 2006 | [30] |
A/10/18/2/SO4 | 0.57 | 0.053 | 10.8 | Do, 2009 | [39] |
A/14−15/4/0/SO4 | −0.18 | 0.11 | −1.6 | Velásquez, 2010 | [24] |
A/16−17/4/0/SO4 | −0.29 | 0.11 | −2.6 | Velásquez, 2010 | [24] |
A/12−13/8/0/SO4 | −0.52 | 0.08 | −6.5 | Velásquez, 2010 | [24] |
A/12−13/4/0/SO4 | −0.98 | 0.11 | −8.9 | Velásquez, 2010 | [24] |
Chen/8/9/3/SO4 | −0.39 | 0.17 | −2.3 | Chen, 2019 | [79] |
A/12−13/4/0/SO4 | −1.55 | 0.049 | −31.6 | Wang, 2019 | [41] |
He/13/2/0/SO4 | −1.8 | 0.056 | −32.1 | He, 2019 | [42] |
A/10/4/0/SO4 | −2.24 | 0.053 | −42.3 | Phaodee, 2020 | [29] |
-
1Nomenclature: A: Alfoterra, S: Seppic, Chen and He are first authors of the papers where these surfactants were synthetized. A/10/18/2/S stands for Alfoterra/C10/PO18/O2/SO4. This is the same nomenclature as [2].
*SCPN is the surfactant classification parameter. Higher SCPN indicates a more important lipophilic part of the molecule (hydrocarbon tail and PO extension), a lower SCPN (more negative) indicates a more important hydrophilic head contribution.
The need for the solubilization of polar oils (triglycerides, oleic acids), which present very low solubilization with conventional surfactants, led to trying these new molecules. The polar oils tested included perchloroethylene oil
[12] and ethyl oleate
[13] with a (surprising at the time) very high performance. Miñana et al.
[13] also tried the solubilization of triglycerides (which at the time was practically zero with conventional surfactants, even with cosurfactant alcohols) with C
12POnEO
2SO
4 (
n = 6, 10 or 14), showing for the first time high solubilization of these bulky polar oils. In the same year, Aoudia et al.
[14] achieved high performance with crude oils and a very long PO = 15 extension in a C
14PO
15SO
4 surfactant. These first state-of-the-art extended surfactants synthetized and proved for high solubilization of polar oils allowed a progressive advance of research
[15][16]. Nevertheless, it was not until the early 2000s that new molecules were developed at FIRP Lab.
[17][18][19][20], including surfactants with a carboxylate head and others derived from triglycerides and natural sugars
[21][22]. These first trends concerning new extended surfactants for the high solubilization of polar oils allowed the progressive advance of research
[2][20][23].
Several other surfactants that were tried since 1995 were used in different applications, including EOR and the solubilization of polar oils
[24][25][26][27][28][29][30], but also other not-so-conventional applications, such as drilling fluids
[31][32][33] and crude oil dewatering
[34][35][36].
2. Historical Introduction on Formulation Concepts
It can be said that a century ago, the so-called Bancroft’s rule and its related research and development discussions
[37][38][39] were the first attempt to attain a generalized practical approach for surfactant–oil–water (SOW) systems. However, it was only in the late 1950s that two researchers from industry tried to improve the practical aspects related to SOW systems.
Griffin
[40] introduced the so-called hydrophilic-lipophilic balance parameter, called HLB. Sometime later
[41], he proposed several numerical expressions to estimate the HLB number as a function of the chemical structure of nonionic surfactants, e.g., 20% of the polyoxyethylene weight for an ethoxylated alcohol. HLB was related to the surfactant effect and was thus the first numerical scale that could help compare cases and averaging effects. Even though it did not take into account the effect of other variables, it was the unique numerical criterion for 25 years because it was an extremely simple concept. Thus, it is still currently used as approximate information for people in the industry who do not require high accuracy in formulation work
[42].
At the same time, but in a completely different research area, Winsor
[43] proposed a complex model based on the ratio R of interactions between the surfactant adsorbed at the interface and the neighboring oil and water molecules on both sides of it, indicated explicitly as A
CO and A
CW in
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Interaction of surfactant, oil and water molecules close to interface according to Winsor’s scheme.
The original model R = A
CO/A
CW was made more realistic by introducing the self-interactions between the surfactant, oil and water molecule as references, each in separated terms
[44][45].
Thus, this more precise approach resulted in a new definition of the interaction ratio as R = (A
CO − A
OO − A
LL)/(A
CW − A
WW − A
HH), which is not discussed here because it is out of the scope of this review. Nevertheless, and as has been explained elsewhere
[11][46][47][48], it must be noted that the effective interaction between the surfactant and the oil molecules, i.e., the numerator of R, tends to decrease when the oil ACN increases. This happens because A
OO (between two
n-alkane molecules) increases, in general, faster than A
CO (between the surfactant tail and an oil molecule), while the other terms are unaltered. In what follows, R is taken as (A
CO − A
OO)/A
CW for simplicity.
The Unidimensional Scan of a Formulation Variable
In his research in the late 1940s, Winsor proposed a basic method to study a surfactant–oil–water (SOW) system by determining its phase behavior versus a continuous variation (called a scan) of a variable susceptible to alter at least one of the interactions
[44]. In simple systems, these variables typically were the oil nature (e.g., the
n-alkane carbon number ACN), the water NaCl salinity (S), the surfactant and co-surfactant type (head or tail nature), the temperature, and eventually the pressure
[49][50][51], which is an essential variable in a petroleum reservoir.
Winsor reported that a three-phase behavior (central diagram in
Figure 2 left part) was occurring exactly at R = 1 and was associated with a low interfacial tension, indicated as γ* in
Figure 2, right part.
Figure 2. Variation of the interfacial tension (right) and of the phase behavior in a ternary diagram (left) along a formulation unidimensional scan (here, the salinity of the aqueous phase S). S* and γ* are the salinity and the interfacial tension at optimum formulation, respectively.
3. Multivariable Scans and Generalized HLD Expression for Optimum Formulation
Figure 3 displays the phase behavior transitions in the two-dimensional S-ACN space when all other variables are constant. In the left plot, numerical values are indicated in the ordinate for salinity and in abscissa for ACN. The gray area indicates the three-phase zone (WIII). A vertical variation of salinity at the ACN constant corresponds to
Figure 2 salinity scan, while a horizontal variation of ACN at constant salinity is an ACN scan. The line at the center of the three-phase zone is the optimum formulation line in a bidimensional scan; it corresponds to the optimum ACN* at constant salinity and to the optimum S* at constant ACN. Hence, an increase in salinity results in the transition WI > WIII > WII, while an increase in ACN does the opposite.
Figure 3 corresponds to a typical system for EOR, containing 1 wt% of a commercial alkylbenzene sulfonate with 3 vol% of 2-butanol co-surfactant at a fixed temperature and pressure. It can be seen in
Figure 3 (right plot) that the optimum formulation line at the center of the three-phase zone becomes exactly a straight line if the LnS scale is used in the ordinate.