Lignosulfonates adsorption onto clay as sacrificial agent – benchmarking for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Abstract

This study is to investigate the adsorption capability onto kaolinite for different types of lignosulfonates in various salinity environment. Depletion method using the UV-Vis were used for measuring the concentration of lignosulfonate before and after the adsorption process in equilibrium and kinetic conditions. The highest amount of lignosulfonate adsorbed potrayed the best sacrificial agent that can be used in enhanced oil recovery application. The highest amount adsorbed of lignosulfonate onto kaolinite can prevent the surfactant lost into the formation. Among the four tested lignosulfonates, sodium lignosulfonate appeared the best in terms of adsorption capability in the presence of NaCl and CaCl₂ salt in the system. Freundlich isotherm model was the best to describe the equilibrium adsorption data of sodium lignosulfonate. On the other hand, pseudo-second order model was the best to describe the kinetic adsorption data of sodium lignosulfonate.