Effect of Molar Ratio of Counter-Ions to Cationic Surfactants Treating Trimethylolethane Hydrate Slurries

Experimental studies on flow characteristics and particle size distributions of trimethylolethane (TME) hydrate slurries treated with drag-reducing surfactants have been conducted to investigate the effect of the molar ratio of counter-ions to surfactants. Oleylbishydroxyethylmethylammonium chloride is used as the drag-reducing surfactants. The molar ratio of sodium salicylate supplying counter-ions to surfactants is adjusted from 0 to 100 while the concentrations of TME in water and of surfactants remains constant at 25 wt% and at 2000 ppm, respectively. Results unexpectedly indicate that the drag reduction is greatest when the molar ratio of the counter-ions to surfactants is 20 against the fact that the higher molar ratio shows the higher drag reduction in water case. This indicates that some interaction between the counter-ions and TME molecules occurs and that it disturbs the formation of rod-like micellar structures causing the drag reduction. Thus, a molar ratio of counter-ions to surfactants of 20 is concluded to be the optimum for the drag reduction although it has a detrimental effect on the particle size under the present experimental conditions used.