Protein foam application for enhanced oil recovery

Abstract

Protein foam was explored as a foaming agent for enhanced oil recovery application in this study. The influence of salinity and oil presence on bulk stability and foamability of the egg white protein (EWP) foam was investigated. The results were compared with those of the classical surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) foam. The results showed that the EWP foam is more stable than the SDS foam in the presence of oil and different salts. Although, the SDS foam has more foamability than the EWP foam, however, at low to moderate salinities (1–3 wt% NaCl), both foam systems showed improvement in foamability. At a NaCl concentration of 4.0 wt% and above, foamability of the SDS foam started to decrease drastically while the foamability of the EWP foam remained the same. The presence of oil has a destabilizing effect on both foams but the EWP foam was less affected in comparison to the SDS foam. Moreover, increasing the aromatic hydrocarbon compound percentage in the added oil decreased the foamability and stability of the SDS foam more than EWP foams. This study suggests that the protein foam could be used as an alternative foaming agent for enhanced oil recovery application due to its high stability compared to the conventional foams.