Temperature Sensitive Supramolecular Assemblies for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract

Worldwide energy consumption is increasing at a rapid rate. To meet this increasing demand, maximizing oil recovery from existing sources has become critical. For this purpose, Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery techniques are being increasingly used and researchers are interested in the development of new materials for use in chemical flooding.

This work reports on a novel adaptable amphiphile formed by the supramolecular assembly of a complex formed by an amino-amide and citric acid to be used as a viscosity modifier in displacement fluids for oil recovery. The rheological behavior of the amphiphilic system in response to various parameters like shear, concentration, temperature and salinity is studied. Studies show that the developed adaptable amphiphile system can increase the viscosity of water 10^6 times by addition of only 5 wt% of the amphiphile. It is also noted that the changes in viscosity of the adaptable amphiphile system are reversible. The altered rheological properties are attributed to the formation of network-like entangled structures due to supramolecular assembly triggered by temperature. This research establishes some of the intriguing properties of temperature-responsive supramolecular assemblies which can prove to be highly beneficial in application to Enhanced Oil Recovery technologies.