Ionic Liquids for Enhanced Oil Recovery: An Experimental Study

Around forty percent of the world's oil reserves are located in carbonate rocks. Recoveries from waterflooding are poor in these reservoirs, making them prime targets for EOR techniques. Surfactant flooding is one form of chemically enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) that can improve production from these reservoirs by lowering interfacial tension (IFT) and altering wettability. This research was aimed at discovering how ionic liquids (ILs), a novel class of surfactants, might affect wettability and how they can be used to decrease interfacial tension (IFT). Pendant drop and contact angle experiments were used to determine interfacial tension and wettability to begin the process of testing IL, namely [C12Py][Cl].Using a core flooding test, the effect of the selected ILs on ultimate oil recovery in the core plug from the carbonate oil reservoir was investigated. An additional 11.8% of the oil was recovered when the core was flooded with the IL after injection (2 pv) and 28.8% after injection (7.75 pv) at the same concentration.