{
  "abstract": "Developing a viscosity reducer that can rapidly emulsify heavy oil and reduce its viscosity under low shear conditions is crucial for improving the oil recovery efficiency but remain a challenge unsolved. In this paper, a high-performance emulsifier (sodium isomeric tridecanol polyoxyethylene ether phosphate, E-1311P), a surfactant (disodium 4-dodecyl-2,4′-oxydibenzenesulfonate, DPEDS-12) and penetrant (methyl 3-nonenoate, M3N) were introduced and evaluated for enhance heavy-oil recovery. The emulsification and viscosity reduction performance of the emulsifier–surfactant–penetrant formulation was systematically evaluated through measurements of viscosity reduction, emulsification time, droplet size, oil–water interfacial tension, contact angle, and core-flooding performance. The addition of DPEDS-12 and M3N markedly improved the overall performance of E-1311P, with the optimal formulation comprising 0.30 wt% E-1311P, 0.10 wt% DPEDS-12, and 0.05 wt% M3N. At a shear rate of 7.34 s−1, this formulation achieved a viscosity reduction of 90–95% within 2–8 min, lowered the oil–water interfacial tension to 2.0 mN m−1, and reduced the contact angle to 33°. Core-flooding experiments yielded a cumulative oil recovery of 36.7%. Molecular dynamics simulations attributed the rapid low-shear emulsification to enhanced hydrophilicity, reduced steric hindrance, and accelerated molecular diffusion and penetration into heavy oil. These results demonstrate the multiscale synergy among the emulsifier, surfactant, and penetrant and highlight the great potential for enhancing heavy-oil recovery.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University Chengdu 610500 China",
    "The Center of Functional Materials for Working Fluids of Oil and Gas Field, Sichuan Engineering Technology Research Center of Basalt Fiber Composites Development and Application, School of New Energy and Materials, Southwest Petroleum University Chengdu 610500 China",
    "Center for Computational Chemistry and Molecular Simulation, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University Chengdu 610500 China",
    "Karamay Jiede Technology Co., Ltd. Karamay Xinjiang 834000 China",
    "Sichuan Haidun Oil New Technology Development Company, Ltd. Chengdu 610041 China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jingxin Ruan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Huohai Yang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Xin Chen",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5120-1983"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Chengjun Xu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Zhenyu Li",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-2219-3917"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cbarhn6e2t9n4.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1039/d6ra07023j",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13663030/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "cbarhn6e2t9n4",
  "issns": [
    "2046-2069"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13663030",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Chemistry"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2212|Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221833833",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13663030/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13663030",
  "pmid": "42877670",
  "published": "2026-10-14",
  "publisher": "Royal Society of Chemistry",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cbarhn6e2t9n4.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:20Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13663030",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13663030"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T12:23:38Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13663030",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1039/d6ra07023j"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "heading:Chemistry",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Synergistic collaboration between an emulsifier, surfactant and penetrant for rapid low-shear emulsification to enhance heavy-oil recovery",
  "title_text": "Synergistic collaboration between an emulsifier, surfactant and penetrant for rapid low-shear emulsification to enhance heavy-oil recovery",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-02T12:20:52Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cbarhn6e2t9n4",
  "venue": "RSC advances",
  "versions": []
}