Alkali‐surfactant foam improves extraction of oil from porous media

Abstract Capillary forces result in the trapping of oleic phase porous media even after extensive flushing with brine. Alkali‐surfactant‐polymer formulations drastically diminish capillary forces, whereas adding polymer to water increases viscous resulting highly efficient extraction residual oil. However, by virtue its scale, above process requires a large quantity chemicals, which poses threat environment. Here, we demonstrate that replacing gas such as nitrogen, flue gas, or carbon dioxide achieves equally superior oil efficiency when using much smaller amount chemicals. Mobilized is first displaced continuous (oil‐bank) and then an oil‐in‐water dispersion. Microflow visualization experiments reveal dispersed spreads at gas–liquid interface (surfactant solutions) due presence adsorbed surfactant molecules. Our dry‐cleaning hydrocarbons has wide spectrum applications particularly useful for production from underground formations while mitigating impact chemicals on