Cashew nutshell liquid alkoxylate sulfate as a new renewable surfactant composition for enhanced oil recovery applications

• Main Authors: KAISER, ANTON, WYLDE, JONATHAN, NIMPHIUS, CORINNA, LEINWEBER, DIRK, SHAMSI JAZEYI, HADI
• Format: Patent
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: 16.08.2017
• Subjects: ADHESIVES; ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE OILS, FATS, FATTY SUBSTANCES AND WAXES; CANDLES; CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON; DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; DETERGENTS; DYES; FATTY ACIDS THEREFROM; MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED OTHERWISE THAN BY REACTIONSONLY INVOLVING UNSATURATED CARBON-TO-CARBON BONDS; MATERIALS FOR MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS, NOT PROVIDED FORELSEWHERE; METALLURGY; MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS OF MATERIALS; MISCELLANEOUS COMPOSITIONS; MIXING, e.g. DISSOLVING, EMULSIFYING, DISPERSING; NATURAL RESINS; ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; PAINTS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; POLISHES; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL; RESIN SOAPS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; TRANSPORTING; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS

The present invention contains methods, of making a cashew nutshell liquid alkoxylate sulfate surfactant by alkoxylation of a natural alkylphenol using propylene oxide (PO) and/or ethylene oxide (EO) followed by a sulfation reaction. The cashew nutshell liquid alkoxylate sulfate surfactant of the present invention is made by a facile and cost effective method. The natural hydrophobe surfactant of the present invention find uses in EOR applications where it is used for solubilization and mobilization of oil optionally containing asphaltene, wax, naphtenate, and for environmental cleanup. Further, the unsulfated version of the natural hydrophobe cardanol alkoxylate surfactant of the present invention can be used as ultra-high molecular weight non-ionic surfactant. Another advantage is that the composition is a renewable based surfactant that is non-toxic and biodegradable.