Laboratory study of improving petroleum recovery by changing the wettability between the solid/liquid interface

The wettability of the solid powders (silica gel or Kaolin) was measured with the modified Washburn equation indicated as contact angles. The wettability changes for SDBS aqueous solutions on the surface of a silica gel or Kaolin powder were studied. The average aggregation number of the micelle in SDBS aqueous solution was measured by the fluorescence quenching method. Then the oil recovery of n-dodecane on the silica gel or the Kaolin surface was tested. The relationship between the wettability of the powder surface, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of SDBS aqueous solution, and the mimic oil recovery of the resident oil on the powder surface has been explored. It has been found that the minimum contact angle (most hydrophilic condition) and the maximum oil recovery occurred near the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of SDBS while the interfacial tension between the SDBS solution and n-dodecane was far from ultra-low condition (≤10^-3 mN·m^-1).