A Novel Surfactant for the Reduction of CO2/Brine Interfacial Tension

The synthesis of novel CO2philic surfactant using maleic anhydride and dipropylene tertiary butyl alcohol is reported. The synthesis involved the esterification of maleic anhydride to produce bis(2-(2-(tert-butoxy)propoxy)propyl) maleate and subsequent sulfonation of the esterified product. Para toluene sulfonic acid was employed as catalyst for the esterification reaction. The esterification reaction was optimized for the maximum yield of 98 of bis(2-(2-(tert-butoxy)propoxy)propyl) maleate. The esterification reaction kinetics employing heterogeneous catalyst were also studied. Although this is a bimolecularreaction, a first order reaction kinetics with respect to acid has been observed. The activation energy was found to be 58.71Â kJ / mol. The diester was followed by the sulfonation process and a yield of85of surfactant was achieved. The synthesized surfactant successfully lowered down the IFT between CO2/ brine to 1.93 mN/m. This surfactant has a great potential to be used for CO2- EOR applications.