Abstract: Stability of clay mineral suspensions with different mass concentrations of oil displacing agent was compared via their stability constants (TSI^-1) measured with Turbiscan stability analyzer.The resulted TSI^-1 values showed that the surfactants display the greatest effect on clay mineral suspension stability.Mechanism for the stabilization of clay mineral particles suspended in water collected from ASP flooding was investigated via the changes of surfactant adsorption and Zeta potential on the clay mineral particles surface.The results showed that,the surfactants adsorbed onto surface of clay mineral particles in collected water belong to Langmuir type adsorption.Following the increase of mass concentrations of alkali and/or polymer,the surfactant adsorption on clay mineral particles surface decreases,while the absolute value of Zeta potential on clay mineral particles surface increases.However,the effect of alkali and/or polymer on amount of surfactant adsorbed is relatively small.The existence of the ternary oil displacement agent in the collected water increases the stability of the clay mineral particles suspension.

Key words: surfactant, ASP flooding, clay mineral, stability