Amidoamine-based gemini surfactants having dual chains connected via an alkyl linker. Each chain contains a quaternary ammonium head group and an ethoxylated alkyl tail. Properties of the surfactant including thermal stability, critical micelle concentration, and foam stability are specified. A method of recovering oil from a reservoir using an aqueous composition that contains the surfactant and a polymer (e.g. AM-AMPS) is also provided. This method is particularly effective for oil recovery in reservoirs of high temperature and/or high salinity.

The present invention is related to the obtaining and using of multifunctional foaming compositions with wettability modifying, corrosion inhibitory and inhibitory/dispersants mineral scale properties with high stability in environments of high temperature, high pressure and tolerance to high concentrations of divalent ions such as calcium, magnesium, strontium and barium. The multifunctional foaming compositions are obtained from the combination of supramolecular complexes resulting from interactions of alkyl amido propyl hydroxysultaines and/or alkyl amido propyl betaines and/or alkyl hydroxysultaines and/or alkyl betaines and anionic surfactant of type alkyl hydroxyl sodium sulfonate and alkenyl sulphonates of sodium, with cationic surfactants as tetra-alkyl ammonium halides and copolymers derivatives of itaconic acid/sodium vinyl sulfonate and/or terpolymers derived from itaconic acid/sodium vinyl sulphonate/aconitic acid. These multinational foaming compositions control the gas channeling and favorably change the wettability and increase the recovery factor of crude oil in naturally fractured reservoirs of carbonate type and heterogeneous lithology. In addition to this, the multifunctional foaming compositions of this invention exhibit anti-corrosive properties in typical environments of production tubing of crude oil and antifouling/dispersants of mineral salts as calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, barium and strontium in the reservoir and in the production and injection pipelines.

Microfluidics is becoming a more popular mainstream technology across many multidisciplinary fields for its clinical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnological applications. As such, more convenient methods of droplet dispersion are desired such as a vacuum-driven system. Regardless of the simplicity of the setup, every operating parameter must be carefully selected and engineered to suit the needs of each experiment. The present invention reports a method for optimization of droplet formation rates for microfluidic flow-focusing devices with rectangular microchannels. More specifically, the method uses the effects of channel dimensions on droplet formation and dripping/jetting to co-flow transitions of two-phase, flow-focusing devices at different pressures for vacuum-driven systems to target a certain desired rate that maximizes intended output.

The present invention provides a highly stable haloolefin-based composition that inhibits decomposition or oxidization. The haloolefin-based composition comprising (a) a haloolefin; (b) at least one compound selected from the group consisting of HFO-1234ze, HFC-254eb, HFO-1243zf, HFC-245eb, HFC-245fa, HFC-245cb, HFC-236ea, HFC-236fa, HFO-1225ye, 3,3,3-trifluoropropine, HFC-23, HFC-32, HFC-125, HFC-143a, HFC-134a, FC-1216, HCFO-1233xf, HCFO-1233zd, HCFO-1232xf, HCFO-1223xd, and chloromethane; and (c) water.

In one embodiment, a spacer fluid may comprise a base fluid and a surfactant package. The surfactant package may comprise one or more surfactants, where the surfactant package comprises a first surfactant having the chemical structure R(OC.sub.2H.sub.4).sub.xOH. R may be a hydrocarbyl group having from 9 to 20 carbon atom, and x may be an integer from 5 and 15. The first surfactant may have a hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) of from 12 to 13.5.

Disclosed are methods for making emulsions and emulsions, that in some embodiments can be considered to be Pickering emulsions.

The invention relates to a method for regenerating the extractive potential of an organic hydroxyoxime-based extraction solution used in the recovery of metals by liquid-liquid extraction. The method is two-stage, in which a solid hydroxylamine is used in the reaction stage, and the removal of the undesirable compounds generated in the reaction occurs in the second stage by adsorption purification. The method of the invention is suitable for treatment of degraded oxime metal extractants in various process organic solutions both in aldehyde and ketoxime extractant solutions. The method can also be used to treat a mixture of degraded oxime extractants.

Embodiments are directed to a lubricant package for water based drilling fluids. The lubricant package includes water, a polyethylene glycol, and a lubricating agent. The lubricating agent includes triethanolamine, or a C.sub.12-C.sub.14 alcohol ethoxylate, or a combination of triethanolamine and C.sub.12-C.sub.14 alcohol ethoxylate. The weight ratio of the polyethylene glycol to the lubricating agent in the lubricant package is from 1:2 to 2:1. Embodiments are also directed to a water-based drilling fluid composition including an aqueous base fluid, one or more additives, and the lubricant package for water based drilling fluids.

A waste vegetable-oil based emulsifier for use as drilling mud primary emulsifier is described. A first emulsifier is prepared from an alkyl ester of waste vegetable oil. The waste vegetable oil is vegetable oil which has been used for a process prior to preparing the first emulsifier. A quantity of the first emulsifier is added to an oil-based drilling fluid. A quantity of an activating agent is added to the oil-based drilling fluid. The activating agent is configured to activate the emulsifier to stabilize an emulsion. A quantity of viscosifier is added to the oil-based drilling fluid. A quantity of a second emulsifier is added to the oil-based drilling fluid. A quantity of weigh-up material is added to the oil-based drilling fluid. The resulting oil-based drilling fluid is used in a wellbore drilling operation to drill a wellbore in a subterranean zone.

A composition comprising from 60-80 wt % alcohol alkoxy sulfates, 2-20 wt % of polyalkoxy sulfates and water wherein the alcohol alkoxy sulfates are of the formula RO(C.sub.3H.sub.6O).sub.x(C.sub.2H.sub.4O).sub.ySO.sub.3 where R is an alkyl group having from 9 to 18 carbon atoms, x is from 1 to 40, y is from 0 to 20 and x+y is from 1 to 60.