Surfactant polycomplexes in displacement processes of non-polar liquids from porous systems and demulsification of reverse emulsions

The surface properties of the polycomplexes of the non-ionic surfactant OP-10 with synthetic polyelectrolytes (polyacrylic acid, polymethacrylic acid, and polyethylenimine) at the water | (toluene + cyclohexane + hexane) interface were studied. It was found that at the low relative concentrations of OP-10 in the mixture (n = 0.05–1) the decrease in the surface tension is maximal. The displacement rate of the oil from the capillaries of different nature with aqueous solutions of various polyelectrolytes and OP-10 depends weakly on the nature of the capillary. The coefficient of oil displacement from porous systems with aqueous solutions of polycomplexes is higher by 18–25% than that of oil recovery with water. The study of the demulsifying properties of the polycomplexes showed that the lifetime of the reverse emulsions, including oil emulsions, is sharply decreased for large n values (n = 5–20).