Two aspects are always considered in the design and development of new surfactants for oilfield application. One of them is that surfactant must be sufficiently stable at reservoir temperature and the other is the solubility of the surfactant in the injection water (usually seawater) and the formation brine. Most industrially applied surfactants undergo hydrolysis at elevated temperature and the presence of reservoir ions causes surfactant precipitation. In relevance to this, a novel series of quaternary ammonium gemini surfactants with different length of spacer group (C8, C10, and C12) was synthesized and characterized using FT-IR, ¹³C NMR, ¹H NMR, and MALDI-TOF MS. The gemini surfactants were prepared by solvent-free amidation of glycolic acid ethoxylate lauryl ether with 3-(dimethylamino)-1-propylamine followed by reaction with dibromoalkane to obtain quaternary ammonium gemini surfactants. The gemini surfactants were examined by means of surface properties and thermal stabilities. The synthesized gemini surfactants showed excellent solubility in the formation brine, seawater, and deionized water without any precipitation for up to three months at 90 °C. Thermal gravimetric data revealed that all the gemini surfactants were decomposed above 227 °C, which is higher than the oilfield temperature (≥90 °C). The decrease in critical micelle concentration (CMC) and surface tension at CMC (γ_cmc) was detected by enhancing spacer length in the order C8 ˃ C10 ˃ C12 which suggested that the larger the spacer, the better the surface properties. Moreover, a further decrease in CMC and γ_cmc was noticed by enhancing temperature (30 °C ˃ 60 °C) and salinity (deionized water ˃ seawater). The current study provides a comprehensive investigation of quaternary ammonium gemini surfactants that can be further extended potentially to use as a suitable material for oilfield application.

Drilling issues such as shale hydration, high-temperature tolerance, torque and drag are often resolved by applying an appropriate drilling fluid formulation. Oil-based drilling fluid (OBDF) formulations are usually composed of emulsifiers, lime, brine, viscosifier, fluid loss controller and weighting agent. These additives sometimes outperform in extended exposure to high pressure high temperature (HPHT) conditions encountered in deep wells, resulting in weighting material segregation, high fluid loss, poor rheology and poor emulsion stability. In this study, two additives, oil wetter and rheology modifier were incorporated into the OBDF and their performance was investigated by conducting rheology, fluid loss, zeta potential and emulsion stability tests before and after hot rolling at 16 h and 32 h. Extending the hot rolling period beyond what is commonly used in this type of experiment is necessary to ensure the fluid’s stability. It was found that HPHT hot rolling affected the properties of drilling fluids by decreasing the rheology parameters and emulsion stability with the increase in the hot rolling time to 32 h. Also, the fluid loss additive’s performance degraded as rolling temperature and time increased. Adding oil wetter and rheology modifier additives resulted in a slight loss of rheological profile after 32 h and maintained flat rheology profile. The emulsion stability was slightly decreased and stayed close to the recommended value (400 V). The fluid loss was controlled by optimizing the concentration of fluid loss additive and oil wetter. The presence of oil wetter improved the carrying capacity of drilling fluids and prevented the barite sag problem. The zeta potential test confirmed that the oil wetter converted the surface of barite from water to oil and improved its dispersion in the oil.

The solubility and heat stability of surfactants are the prerequisites for their oilfield applications. Most commercial surfactants undergo hydrolysis at high temperature and prolonged heating at 40 °C or above leads to decomposition. In this report, three cationic poly(ethylene oxide) gemini surfactants (GSs) containing flexible and rigid spacers were synthesized for oilfield applications. The chemical structures of the GSs were elucidated with the aid of ¹³C NMR, ¹H NMR, FT-IR, and MALDI-TOF MS. The GSs exhibit pronounced solubility in deionized water, seawater, and formation brine and no cloudiness, phase separation, or precipitation were detected after keeping GS solutions in an oven at 90 °C for three weeks. According to thermal gravimetric analysis, the degradation temperature of all the GSs was above 240 °C, which is higher than the existing oilfield temperature (≥90 °C). The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the synthesized GSs decreases upon increasing the temperature. Additionally, CMC values were observed to increase even further with increasing salinity. The low CMC values of gemini surfactants containing a flexible structure indicate that they create a more closely packed micelle structure compared with gemini surfactants with a rigid structure. The distinct surface and thermal features of the synthesized GSs reveal them to be appropriate materials for high salinity and elevated temperature reservoirs.