ABSTRACT

TITLE: EVALUATION OF DEGRADATION OF AN ANIONIC SURFACTANT CHEMICAL USED IN

OIL RECOVERY WITH S-TiO2 SUSPENDED AND LIGHT TUBULAR VISIBLE IN
PHOTOREACTOR.*

AUTHORS: Sneidy Sthefanie Espinosa Rojas**, Mónica Tatiana Monsalve Osorio.

KEYWORDS: Photocatalysis, TiO2 Doping S, photodegradation, anionic surfactant, photoreactor.

The current competition between preserving the environment and the necessity to increase energy reserves in
the world and in our country, leads to the oil industry to implement techniques of enhanced recovery by
chemical injection, which uses chemical such as surfactants into the wells, increasing the amount of crude
oil that can be extracted from an oil field. The application of these methods involve a new environmental
challenge considering the possible in the short and long term effects that are generated due to the fact that
large quantities of water contaminate is obtained as a result of extraction.

In this work, the photoactivity of TiO 2 catalysts doped with sulfur to 0,034, 0,068 and 0,102% m/m on the
photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange dye was evaluated by selecting the S-TiO2 catalyst at 0,034% m/m
of S to develop the next stages into the project, because it is the one with a higher percentage of degradation.
Following this step, the effect of the hydrothermal synthesis on S-TiO2 (0,034% m/m) was checked, proved that
the photocatalytic activity of materials synthesized via sol-gel and hydrothermal synthesis, having a similarity in
term of degradation with 98%. The characterization of the materials was made through techniques such as
SEM-EDS, which showing amorphous particles, rough and irregular edges, as well as presence of sulfur,
proving the doping of material, XRD showed peaks that proving a material in anatase phase. The adsorption/
desorption N2 technic showed isotherms of type IV with a H 2 hysteresis loop. Using the BET method can be
determined the surface area with 136,56 and 146,29 m²/g, and pore diameter with 5,29 and 5,05 nm. With
UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) technic was found the values for the band-gad of 2,96 and 2,97
eV. Taking intoaccount the above it can be concluded that the conditions of hydrothermal synthesis at 117,21
Kpa and 124 °C S does not generate TiO2 powders with greater photocatalytic activity than those synthesized
without treatment. So that the sol-gel method was chosen in the synthesis of S-TiO2 (0,034 %m/m) for
degradation Enordet anionic surfactant used in the chemical O242 oil recovery.

Following-up of anionic surfactant was performed by the methylene blue active substances method (MBAS). It
was designed 3k experiments to determinate the influence of caudal (2,4gpm and 6gpm) and dust
concentration of S-TiO2 (0.2g/L, 0.4g/L and 0.6 g/L) on the percentage of removal of anionic surfactant. A
model of second order was obtained using statistical analysis to predict the percentage of degradation of the
anionic surfactant Enordet O242 as a function on the concentration of S-TiO2, where the testing variable
showed high statistical significance (p-value = 0,0018). In conclusion, a concentration of S-TiO 2 of 0.6 g/L and
caudal of 2gpm produced the greatest removal of anionic surfactants with 78%.

*Bachelor thesis.
**Facultad de Ingenierías Fisicoquímicas. Escuela de Ingeniería Química. Director: Dr. Julio Andrés
Pedraza Avella. Ing. Juan Carlos Cardozo Gualdrón. Universidad Industrial de Santander.