Alcohol ethoxylates saline waters

Stephanou [38] identified non ionic surfactants in non saline water by gas chromatography coupled with chemical ionisation mass spectrometry. Tertiary octylphenol and lauryl alcohol ethoxylates were qualitatively detected using their chemical ionisation mass spectra and the results used to compare the chemical ionisation and electron impact mass spectrometry techniques. 

Besides the ether sulfates derived from coconut oil fatty alcohols, it is possible to produce other compounds with a higher degree of ethoxylation by using, other alcohols as starting materials. In this way, the hydrophilic/lipophilic balance (HLB) value can be widely varied. Thus, additives can be produced for oil-in-water (OAV) or water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions, for use in saline water, for detergents, and for dispersants of lime soap. 

Previous investigators have shown that by replacing petroleum sulfonates with the ethoxylated sulfonate EOR-200, the optimal salinity can be increased to as high as 32% NaCl brine (Table 1). These results demonstrated that the mixed petroleum sulfonates and ethoxylated sulfonates or alcohol formulations are promising candidates for reservoirs containing formation water of high salinity. Recently,... 

The experimental technique is that of the unidimensional scan as follows. Series of surfactant-oil-water systems are prepared, all with identical composition (same amounts of surfactant, oil, aqueous phase, and alcohol, typically selected so that the representative point is in the polyphasic region of a ternary diagram, i.e., 3% surfactant and equal proportions of oil and water) and all with the same formulation, with the exception of the scanned variable. This is, in general, the aqueous-phase salinity for ionic systems and the average number of ethylene oxide groups per molecule (EON) if the systems contain an ethoxylated nonionic surfactant mixture. 

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