Oil Field Services

DuPont™ Zonyl® Fluorosurfactants for the Oil Field

DuPont™ Zonyl® fluorosurfactants—unsurpassed surface tension reduction for foaming and penetration in oil field pumping applications.

Key Products

Hydrocarbon Foaming—DuPont™ Zonyl® FSG has been shown to be a useful additive for foaming hydrocarbon-based stimulation and drilling fluids; e.g., kerosene, diesel fuel, xylenes.

Surface tension reduction with low adsorption on the formation. Zonyl® FSO and FSH, two of DuPont’s nonionic surfactants, are effective at very low concentration, and not likely to alter the rewet characteristics of the formation.

Aqueous Foaming for "Gas Caps" or Stimulation—Zonyl® FSN has demonstrated capability in reservoirs as a treatment to limit gas production. Zonyl® FS-500 (amphoteric) and Zonyl® FS-510 (amine oxide) are also very efficacious foaming surfactants that operate across a wide pH range. Further, DuPont fluorinated surfactants form synergistic mixtures with a number of hydrocarbon surfactants.

DuPont™ Zonyl® fluorosurfactants are additives used for a variety of well stimulation applications due to their unique thermal and chemical stability in harsh environments, ability to alter wetting of rock formations and create low surface tension fluids. These surfactants are used in both aqueous and organic solvent systems to create formulations with surface energies as low as 16 dynes/cm!

The Zonyl® well stimulation products offer a variety of surfactants to meet your specific well stimulation needs. Non-ionic fluorosurfactants are useful in a variety of rock formations due to their decreased tendency for adsorption to rock formations. Cationic, anionic, and amphoteric fluorosurfactants are also available to allow for customization and compatibility with your existing stimulation fluids.

DuPont™ Zonyl® fluorosurfactants are applicable in well stimulation applications due to their superior wetting action, as well as stability in harsh environments, both thermal and chemical. This is due to the nature of the hydrophobic tail on the fluorosurfactant. The hydrophobic tail of a typical surfactant consists of a straight chain hydrocarbon; however, in fluorosurfactants, the hydrophobic tail is a straight chain fluorocarbon. Both orient at the liquid surface with the hydrocarbon or fluorocarbon tail of the molecule in the gas phase and the more polar portion in the aqueous phase. There is a significant difference in the surface tension between hydrocarbon surfactants and fluorosurfactants.

• Minimize formation damage
• Increase fluid recovery
• Prevent formation of “worm holes” by providing a uniform coating of acid on the rock formation
• Provide foaming capabilities in a variety of solvents and water
• Decrease the need for demulsifiers due to their natural ability to prevent emulsification of water with oil/gas
• Create non-depleting simulation fluids