Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng.

Aspects 383 (2011) 114119

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and

Engineering Aspects
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/colsurfa

Interfacial tension and phase behavior of surfactant-brineoil system

Achinta Bera, Keka Ojha, Ajay Mandal , T. Kumar
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad 826004, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 18 January 2011
Received in revised form 15 February 2011
Accepted 10 March 2011
Available online 23 March 2011
Keywords:
Phase behavior
Microemulsions
Interfacial tension (IFT)
Ethoxylated secondary alcoholic surfactant
Solubilization parameter

a b s t r a c t
The phase behavior of surfactant-brineoil system is the key factor in interpreting the performance of oil
recovery by microemulsion process. Due to the well established relationship between the microemulsion
phase behavior and interfacial tension (IFT), it is common in the industry to screen surfactants and their
formulations for low IFT through oilwater phase behavior tests. In the present work, the aqueous phases
containing different ethoxylated secondary alcoholic surfactants and electrolyte (NaCl) were contacted
with synthetic oil systematically to study of their phase behavior and interfacial tension for higher degree
of solubilization, which is desirable for enhanced oil recovery.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) by surfactant ooding has become
more attractive in recent years [14]. Low interfacial tension at
low surfactant concentrations, and acceptable adsorption levels are
considered to be important design parameters in optimizing chemical systems for recovering trapped oil from petroleum reservoirs
[5,6].
In enhanced oil recovery one of the most important designing
factors for chemical ood is to select an appropriate surfactant formulation capable of mobilization oil without signicant surfactant
losses due to adsorption and phase separation in the reservoir.
An optimum condition for the oil recovery is observed when the
middle phase contains the added surfactant and equal amounts
of oil and water [6,7]. It is now recognized that formulating surfactant/oil/brine system that exhibits desirable phase behavior is
an important step in optimizing performance of microemulsion
systems for enhanced oil recovery. The optimum formulation of
microemulsions can best be obtained by analyzing the three phase
behavior of oilbrine-surfactant system by exchanging variable
parameters viz. the salinity of aqueous phase, nature of oil, type
of surfactant, the surfactant hydrophiliclipophilic balance (HLB)
or the temperature. Correlations for the attainment of three phase
system have been found among these variables for nonionic surfactant [810], and [11]. Healy et al. [12] have shown that the
phase behavior of surfactant/brine/oil systems is a key factor in
interpreting the performance of oil recovery by microemulsion

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mandal ajay@hotmail.com (A. Mandal).
0927-7757/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2011.03.035

processes. By systematically varying salinity, they found low interfacial tensions and high solubilization of both oil and water in the
microemulsion phase to occur in or near the salinity ranges giving three phases. Due to the well established relationship between
the microemulsion phase behavior and interfacial tension, it is
common in the industry to screen surfactants and their formulations for low IFT through oilwater phase behavior tests [13,14].
Several investigations [5,6,15,16] have been reported on interfacial tension behavior of microemulsions in equilibrium with both
excess oil and excess brine system. They demonstrated that middle phase microemulsions exhibited the lowest interfacial tension
with respect to both oil and water. In the presence of surfactant
the immiscibility of water and oil may be changed to form slightly
miscible phase microemulsion where both phases are present. Usually the interfacial tension between oil and brine phase is typically
2050 mN/m [17,18]. Upon addition of an amphiphile (surfactant),
some oil can be solubilized into the aqueous phase and some water
can be solubilized into the oil phase. The interfacial tension generally drops to values of a few mN/m. However, under very narrow
of ranges of experimental parameters and conditions, ultralow IFT
(<0.01) is observable [19,20,21,22]. Winsor [23] described surfactant/oil/water microemulsions as type I (oil in water), type II (water
in oil) or type III (bicontinuous oil and water in a third phase known
as the middle phase microemulsion). The type III or middle phase
microemulsions exhibit the lowest IFT.
The inuence of changes in hydrophiliclipophilic balance (HLB)
values or degree of ethoxylation of a series of ethoxylated secondary alcohols (Tergitol 15-S-5, Tergitol 15-S-7 and Tergitol
15-S-9) on the formation of multi-phase micro-emulsions has been
studied. The mixture of n-heptane, benzene and toluene in different
compositions were used as the synthetic oil in the present study.

A. Bera et al. / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 383 (2011) 114119

115

Table 1
Surfactant properties.
Surfactants and molecular structures

Symbol or trade name

Hyd. No.

HLB value

Category

Tergitol 15-S-5
M.W. = 415

135

10.6

Nonionic

Tergitol 15-S-7
M.W. = 515

109

12.1

Nonionic

Tergitol 15-S-9
M.W. = 738

96

13.3

Nonionic

CmH2m+1
HC

(OCH2 CH2)5

OH

CnH2n+1
(m + n =10~14)
Ethoxylated C11~14 secondary alcohol

CmH2m+1
HC

(OCH2 CH2)7

OH

CnH2n+1
(m + n =10~14)
Ethoxylated C11~14 secondary alcohol

CmH2m+1
HC

(OCH2 CH2)9

OH

CnH2n+1
(m + n =10~14)
Ethoxylated C11~14 secondary alcohol

In all cases middle phase micro-emulsions are formed. The solubility of oil and water in microemulsion phase has been studied
by varying the salinity. The appropriate surfactants with desired
composition for improved oil recovery have been predicted by
characterizing the middle-phase micro-emulsions in oilbrine system. An attempt has also been paid to observe the inuences of
ethylene oxide number (EON) on the critical micellization concentrations of the surfactants.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Tergitol 15-S-5, Tergitol 15-S-7 and Tergitol 15-S-9 (with 99%
purity) were used as the surfactants. All of these are nonionic surfactants purchased from SigmaAldrich, Germany. The details of
the surfactants used in the present study have been given in Table 1.
Sodium chloride (NaCl) was purchased from Qualigens Fine Chemicals, India. Benzene, toluene and n-heptane were used for synthetic
oil and procured from Ottokemi, India.
2.2. Experimental technique
2.2.1. Phase diagrams
The triangular pseudoternary phase diagrams are tetrahedron
cuts characterized by a xed surfactant mass, so that the apices
were oil, brine (a pseudocomponent) and the surfactant. The phase
diagram has been established by a conventional titration method.
To measure the amount of brine required to obtain a single phase,
two phase mixture of surfactant and oil system was titrated against
brine. The end point of each titration is taken as the rst perceptible permanent cloudiness, indicating the appearance of a second
phase in the mixture. All mixtures are prepared by volume; and
compositions are expressed as weight percent. All the experiments
have been performed at 25 C.
2.2.2. Solubilization parameters and relative phase volume
The volume of oil and brine that can be solubilized by
microemulsion is of interest in characterizing a surfactant system.
Healy et al. [12] expressed the amounts of oil and water solubilized
by a unit of surfactant in terms of solubilization parameters (Vo /Vs
and Vw /Vs ). Vs , Vo and Vw represents the volume of surfactant, oil

and water respectively in the microemulsion phase. The solubilization parameters were calculated with the assumption that all the
surfactant was contained in the microemulsion phase [24].
To measure the solubilization parameters the following steps
are performed: A solution of the surfactant (0.4 wt%) and sodium
chloride solutions at varying concentrations were prepared separately in de-ionized water. The two-phase mixture synthetic oil and
brine with 1:1 (v/v) ratio were then shaken for 60 min with desired
volume of surfactant solution in Rotospin rotary mixer (Tarsons
Products Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata) at 50 RPM. Thereafter the tubes were
removed and left to settle for a day to attain the equilibrium condition in a specially designed rack which can hold up to several
tubes. After settlement the phase volumes of the brine, microemulsion and oil phases were measured easily from the properly scaled
centrifuged tubes.
2.2.3. Interfacial tension and surface tension
Measurement of interfacial tension is very much useful supplementary test method for phase behavior test. It is particularly
useful when only very small quantities of an experimental surfactant are available. In the present study interfacial tension between
oil-microemulsion phase and brine-microemulsion phase were
measured using an Auto tensiometer (Rigosha & Co. Ltd., Model:
6801ES with platinum ring) under atmospheric pressure by the
ring method [25]. The platinum ring was thoroughly cleaned and
ame-dried before each measurement. In all cases, more than three
successive measurements were carried out, and the standard deviation did not exceed 0.1 mN/m.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characteristics of pseudoternary phase diagram
The construction of ternary phase diagram is very much important to select systems, which gives the concentration range for
the formation of microemulsions. It is also important to prepare
microemulsions with low concentrations of surfactant from the
economical point of view. Fig. 1 shows the ternary phase diagram
for a system comprising of synthetic oil (80 vol% n-heptane, 10 vol%
Benzene and 10% Toluene), Brine (0.2 wt% NaCl) and surfactant
Tergitol 15-S-7). The single phase region represents the microemulsion phase and the two-phase region represents the microemulsion

A. Bera et al. / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 383 (2011) 114119

0.00

Surfactant

2.5

1.00

0.25

Solubilization parameter, V/V

116

0.75

0.50

0.50

1
0.75

0.25

Bimodal Curve
0.00

0.25

2.0

1.5

Optimal slinity
1.0

0.5

0.0

1.0

1.00

Brine

0.50

Vw /Vs
Vo /Vs

0.75

1.5

0.00

2.0

2.5

Salinity, %NaCl

1.00 Oil

Fig. 2. Solubilization parameter vs. salinity, %NaCl for 15-S-5.

Fig. 1. Ternary phase diagram of oilbrine-surfactant (Tergitol 15-S-7) system.

and excess oil phase. It may be seen from the gure that a broad
microemulsion region is formed, even at very low concentrations
of oil and surfactant.

Solubilization parameter, V/V

The oil solubilization ratio is dened as the volume of oil solubilized divided by the volume of surfactant in the microemulsion.
All the surfactant is presumed to be in the microemulsion phase.
The volume of oil solubilized in microemulsion is nothing but the
difference between the initial oil volume and excess oil (at the top)
at equilibrium condition after proper shaking. Similarly the water
solubilization ratio is dened as the volume of water solubilized
divided by the volume of surfactant in microemulsion. The volume
of water solubilized is found from the change of volume between
the initial aqueous phase and the excess water (at the bottom).
The optimum solubilization ratio occurs where the oil and water
solubilization is equal as determined by drawing oil and water solubilization ratio curves from the specic data points (one data per
tube) [14].
Since interfacial tensions are minimal at optimal salinity and
solubilization parameters are related to interfacial tension [25],
estimation of both properties is a great tool in designing the economical microemulsion ooding compositions. Increasing salinity
causes the phase transition of microemulsion from lower to middle
to upper phase. The solubilization parameter for oil in microemulsion, Vo /Vs, is an increasing function of salinity, whereas Vw /Vs is
a decreasing function of salinity as shown in Figs. 24. The intersection of these functions is termed as optimal salinity for phase
behavior.
Nonionic surfactants are often characterized by their
hydrophiliclipophilic balance or HLB. The value of HLB is
designating the balance of water/oil loving character. High HLB
values indicate good water, or polar solvent solubility of the
surfactant, while low HLB values are indicative of good solubility
in nonpolar systems, such as oil. As in the case of 15-S-9, the HLB
value is 13.5 which is greater than that of 15-S-5 and 15-S-7 (HLB
values are 10.6 and 12.1 respectively), the solution of 15-S-9 in
water is clear compared to other two. 15-S-5 with lowest HLB
value forms a solution in water which is turbid in nature.
The relative volume of each phase is plotted as a function of
salinity for all surfactants in Figs. 57 respectively. This type of data
set is known as salinity scan. Here the phases are plotted as they
were visualized in a test tube, i.e., the upper phase is at the top of

3.0
2.5

Optimal salinity

2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Salinity, %NaCl
Fig. 3. Solubilization parameter vs. salinity, %NaCl for 15-S-7.

4.0

Solubilization parameter, V/V

3.2. Solubilization parameters

Vw/Vs
Vo/Vs

3.5

3.5

Vw/Vs
Vo/Vs

3.0

Optimal Salinity

2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

Salinity, %NaCl
Fig. 4. Solubilization parameter vs. salinity, %NaCl for 15-S-9.

3.0

A. Bera et al. / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 383 (2011) 114119

117

100

Relative Phase Volume, %

95
90

Excess Oil

85
80
75
70
65

Microemulsion

60
55
50
45

Excess Brine

40
35
30
1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2

2.4

Salinity, %NaCl
Fig. 5. Relative phase volume vs. salinity, %NaCl for 15-S-5.
Fig. 8. Photograph of phase behavior of 0.4 wt% 15-S-7 and synthetic oil (salinity
changes from 0.1 wt% NaCl to 0.25 wt% from left to right).

100

the diagram. Fig. 8 represents the typical picture of relative phases

of brineoil-surfactant mixture at varying concentration of brine.
As salinity of the system decreases the volume of microemulsion
phase increases, which is desirable for surfactant ooding.

Relative Phase Volume, %

90
80

Excess Oil

70

3.3. Interfacial tension and surface tension

Microemulsion

60
50

Excess Brine

40
30

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Salinity, %NaCl
Fig. 6. Relative phase volume vs. salinity, %NaCl for 15-S-7.

It is well known that the surfactants reduce the surface tension of water by getting adsorbed on the liquidgas interface. The
critical micelle concentration (CMC), one of the main parameters
for surfactants, is the concentration at which surfactant solutions
begin to form micelles in large amount [26]. Surface tensions of the
above three surfactants (15-S-5, 15-S-7 and 15-S-9) solutions at
different concentrations were measured and plotted as a function
of concentration (Fig. 9). The concentration at the turning point of
the curve is critical micelle concentration. From Fig. 10 it is clear
that with increasing EON, the CMC value of the surfactant increases
[27]. Fig. 10 more clearly illustrates the relationship between EON
and CMC value of surfactants.

100

90

Tergitol 15-S-5
Tergitol 15-S-7
Tergitol 15-S-9

65

Excess Oil

60

80

Surface Tension, mN/m

Relative Phase Volume, %

70

70

Microemulsion
60

50

55
50
45
40
35

Excess Brine
30

40
1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2

Salinity, %NaCl
Fig. 7. Relative phase volume vs. salinity, %NaCl for 15-S-9.

2.4

25
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

Concentration of Surfactant,wt% x 10

0.8
-2

Fig. 9. Variation of surface tension with surfactant concentrations.

118

A. Bera et al. / Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 383 (2011) 114119

0.42

oil phase gradually decreases and microemulsion phase increases.

At a considerable high NaCl concentration the oil phase more or less
completely converted into a biphasic system with microemulsion
at the top and water at the bottom. Due to increased concentration of sodium chloride the conductivity of microemulsion
increases which enhances the oil solubilization in microemulsion
with increase in relative phase volume of microemulsion.
The specialty of microemulsion about their stability is thermodynamic property. Microemulsions are thermodynamically stable
and form without any energy input [3234]. According to the
GibbsHelmholtz equation (Eq. (1)), such spontaneously running
processes are characterized by a negative free energy G.

0.40
0.38
0.36

CMC, wt%

0.34
0.32
0.30
0.28
0.26
0.24

G = A TS

0.22

where G is the free energy of formation,  the interfacial tension,

A the change in interfacial area during the formation process, S
the change in entropy, and T is the temperature. The microemulsion
formation is always accompanied by a signicant increase in the
interfacial area A. Since the interfacial tension  decreases remarkably a negative free energy is achieved when the interfacial energy
(A) is compensated by a dramatic change in the entropy of the
system, which is mainly dispersion entropy [35,36].

0.20
5

EON of Nonionic Surfactant

Fig. 10. Variation of CMC with EON of nonionic surfactants.

4. Conclusions

Interfacial Tension, mN/m

Optimal Salinity
6

mo
mw

3
0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

(1)

2.5

3.0

Salinity, wt.% Nacl

Fig. 11. Interfacial tensions of excess oil- microemulsion and excess brinemicroemulsion system for 15-S-9.

Ultralow interfacial tensions have been reported by several

authors [28,29] in multiphase surfactant-oilbrine systems in
which one of the phases is a microemulsion. The ultralow interfacial tensions of microemulsion systems are a complex function
of salinities, surfactant concentrations and temperatures [30,31].
When the surfactant is made less hydrophobic, for example,
by increasing salinity, the transition from lower to middle to
upper phase microemulsion occurs and one or two interfaces are
formed. Measurements of the micro-emulsion/oil ( mo ) and microemulsion/water ( mw ) interfacial tension have been made in the
present study. Fig. 11 shows the plot of interfacial tension vs. salinity for surfactant, 15-S-9. As the salinity is increased,  mo decreases,
while  mw increases. Whenever the middle phase microemulsion
is present, both values of interfacial tension are low. The curves
for  mo and  mw were found to intersect at usually low values of
interfacial tension, and the salinity corresponding to this point is
termed as the optimal for interfacial tension.
3.4. Effect of salinity on the relative phase volume of
microemulsion
Figs. 57 demonstrate that relative phase volume of different
phases signicantly depend on the salinity. As salinity increases the

A number of different formulations with varying compositions

of oil, brine and surfactants were tested in the preparation of
appropriate microemulsion systems, stabilized by three different
non-ionic commercial grade surfactants. The surfactant/water/oil
system forms a middle phase microemulsion in the presence of
NaCl. The one-phase microemulsion region disappears completely
at higher salinity. A broad microemulsion region is formed, even at
very low concentrations of oil and ethoxylated secondary alcoholic
surfactant. The microemulsion screening is characterized by several concurrent phenomena viz. three-phase behavior, minimum
interfacial tension and high solubilization of both oil and brine
in the microemulsion phase. The solubility of the surfactants in
water is improved when ethylene oxide is included in the surfactant molecule. During the preparation of surfactant, increase in
ethoxylation changes the solution properties from precipitation to
dispersion to clear solution at high ethylene oxide number (EON).
Solubilization parameters for oil and water were found to vary signicantly with the salinity. From the phase behavior experiments it
can be concluded that degree of ethoxylation has an important role
on solubilization. The CMC values of different surfactants used in
the present study was found to depend on the ethylene oxide number (EON). Results show that the interfacial tension between oil and
microemulsion phase is a strong function of both concentration of
surfactant and salinity.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge for the nancial assistance
provided by University Grant Commission [F. No. 37-203/2009
(SR)], to Department of Petroleum Engineering, Indian School of
Mines, Dhanbad, India. Thanks are also extended to all individuals
associated with the project.
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