# US 10,245,560 B2 · Filtration and reuse of surfactant-containing produced water for oil recovery

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- Number: US 10,245,560 B2
- Document ID: US10245560B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/767,469
- Filed: 2015-11-06
- Published: 2018-10-18
- Granted: 2019-04-02
- Earliest claimed: 2015-11-06
- Assignees: Dow Global Technologies LLC; Rohm and Haas Company
- Applicants: Dow Global Technologies LLC; Rohm and Haas Company
- Inventors: Joydeep Mukherjee; Supriyo Das; Wanglin Yu; Claribel Acevedo Velez; Peter M. Rozowski; Susan K. Falcone-Potts
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10245560B2

## CPC

- B01D 69/125: {In situ manufacturing by polymerisation, polycondensation, cross-linking or chemical reaction}
- B01D 69/10: Supported membranes; Membrane supports
- C02F 1/444: {by ultrafiltration or microfiltration}
- C09K 8/584: characterised by the use of specific surfactants
- B01D: SEPARATION (separating solids from solids by wet methods B03B, B03D; by pneumatic jigs or tables B03B; by other dry methods B07; magnetic or electrostatic separation of solid materials from solid materials or fluids, separation by high-voltage electric fields B03C; centrifuges, vortex apparatus B04; presses per se for squeezing-out liquid from liquid-containing material B30B9/02; treatment of water C02F, e.g. softening by ion-exchange C02F1/42; {arrangements of air intake cleaners in gas turbine plants F02C7/05} ; arrangements or mounting of filters in air-conditioning, air-humidification or ventilation F24F13/28)
- C02F: TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE (separation in general B01D; special arrangements on waterborne vessels of installations for treating water, waste water or sewage, e.g. for producing fresh water, B63J; adding materials to water to prevent corrosion C23F; treating radioactively-contaminated liquids G21F9/04; regeneration of reactants for recirculation into processes, see the relevant places for the processes)
- C09K: MATERIALS FOR MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE

## Abstract

A method for recovering oil from an oil bearing formation including the steps of: i) recovering an oil-water mixture from the oil-bearing formation; ii) separating at least a portion of the oil from the oil-water mixture to form a produced water; iii) adding a polymeric alkylene oxide surfactant having a Mw of less than 10000 Da to the produced water; iv) passing the produced water through a polymeric membrane to form a permeate stream and a retentate stream; and v) injecting the permeate stream into the oil bearing formation.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for recovering oil from an oil bearing formation comprising:
i) recovering an oil-water mixture from the oil-bearing formation;
ii) separating at least a portion of the oil from the oil-water mixture to form a produced water;
iii) adding a polymeric alkylene oxide surfactant having a Mw of less than 10000 Da to the produced water;
iv) adding a second surfactant to the produced water, wherein the second surfactant is represented by:
wherein: R3 and R4 are each independently selected from a group consisting of hydrogen and linear and branched alkyl groups having from 1 to 16 carbons; and M is selected from sodium, potassium, lithium and ammonium;
v) passing the produced water through a polymeric membrane form a permeate stream and a retentate stream; and
vi) injecting the permeate stream into the oil bearing formation.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the polymeric membrane has an average pore size of from 0.01 to 0.1 μm.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the surfactant has a Mw of from 200 to 5000.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the surfactant comprises at least 5 alkylene oxide repeating units.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the surfactant comprises from 5 to 20 alkylene oxide repeating units.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the surfactant has a cloud point based upon a 1 wt % solution of greater than 30° C.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the surfactant has a cloud point based upon a 1 wt % solution of greater than 80° C.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the surfactant is nonionic.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the surfactant is represented by:
R2—O—(R1—O)x-A
wherein: R1 is selected from an alkyl or alkenyl group, R2 is selected from a hydrogen or hydrocarbon group, x is an integer ≥5, and A is selected from hydrogen, C1-C4 alkyl, chlorine, amine, phosphate and sulfate or salts thereof.