Physicochemical characterization of sodium surfactin for oil and gas industry application

Suleiman, SM; Abbas, AJ; Babaie, M; Nasr, GG

Abstract

Introduction – Industry operators are becoming more critical of synthetic surfactants for various oil and gas operations. Principal among these concerns is the environmental degradation. As a result, there is increasing interest in the use of biosurfactant, including surfactin, in oil and gas operations. Therefore the need to improve its characteristics, hence performance becomes evident. Characteristics of cultures of surfactin (isolates) were reported. These characteristics could potentially change after synthesis and drying, hence the need for this study.
Methodology - The methodology involved characterizing surfactin in aqueous media, and sodium chloride (NaCl) salt solution of 0.1–1.5M concentrations. Properties that influence active site for adsorption (functional group), dispersion (density, foaming), amount of dissolved minerals (pH and conductivity) among others, were analyzed at various surfactin dosages of 0.025 – 1.0%.
Results − Results indicated foaming and solubility were excellent in aqueous solution, but significantly affected above 0.5M NaCl concentration. Aqueous surfactin had maximum density of 985.2kg/m3, however increases with increasing NaCl concentration. With pH of 7.1 at 1.0% dosage, aqueous surfactin will pose no corrosion problem to pipelines. Additionally, both surfactin dosage and change in salt concentration exhibited linear relationship effect with pH and conductivity. Infrared analysis confirms cyclic nature of sodium surfactin with lipopeptide chain linked to an aliphatic, hydrocarbon chain.
Conclusion − These makes it suitable for use as dispersion agent, viscosity reduction for heavy crude transport, additive for drilling mud preparation, and potential candidate for surface activities, a desirable requirement for oil and gas applications.
Keywords: Sodium surfactin, Bacillus subtilis, biosurfactant, physicochemical characteristics

Citation

Suleiman, S., Abbas, A., Babaie, M., & Nasr, G. (2018). Physicochemical characterization of sodium surfactin for oil and gas industry application. Journal of Engineering Technology, 7(2), 342-353

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 31, 2018
• Publication Date: Jul 31, 2018
• Deposit Date: Aug 7, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 7, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Engineering Technology
• Print ISSN: 0747-9964
• Publisher: American Society for Engineering Education
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 342-353
• Publisher URL: http://www.joetsite.com/2018/07/page/3/
• Related Public URLs: http://www.joetsite.com/