Somoza Cerviño, AlbaTafur Angulo, Néstor AlbertoArce Arce, AlbertoSoto Campos, Ana María2022-04-012022-04-012022Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 209 (2022) 109856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2021.109856http://hdl.handle.net/10347/27872A large proportion of extant crude oil is found in carbonate reservoirs worldwide. Alkylbenzene sulfonates are inexpensive anionic surfactants but they cannot be used in these reservoirs due to their incompatibility with divalent ions and high adsorption on the rocks. This paper proposes the solution to that problem by blending this kind of surfactant with surface-active ionic liquids. Namely, a formulation containing sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) and cocosalkylpentaethoximethylammonium methylsulfate ([C1EG][MeSO4]) was designed for the application. Two optimal blends, at 40/60 and 73.7/26.3 SDBS/[C1EG][MeSO4] ratios, were found in synthetic seawater via equilibria and interfacial tension (IFT) studies. Core-flooding tests were carried out to check the performance of both blends. The first blend ratio (40 wt% SDBS) was selected to define an optimal formulation (1 wt% blend in synthetic seawater at 298.15 K) due to its better injectability, higher reduction of the IFT, lower adsorption, and better oil recovery. Attained tertiary oil recovery (18% of the original oil in place), with low blend adsorption (0.37 mgblend/grock), shows the promising performance of the solution. The main mechanism associated with improved oil recovery is IFT reduction. This work offers a significant advance in the application of natural petroleum sulfonates in carbonate reservoirseng© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/AnionicCationicSynergyMicroemulsionjournal article10.1016/j.petrol.2021.1098560920-4105open access