Effect of hydrocarbon structure on viscosity reduction of long chain viscoelastic surfactant

Abstract This paper studied the effect of different hydrocarbon structures on viscosity reduction of long-chain viscoelastic surfactant (VES) solution. The hydrocarbons studied were an alkane, cycloalkane, and aromatic hydrocarbon. The decrease of viscosity with the time of VES solution was determined at various temperatures. The study shows that aromatic hydrocarbon, benzene, and cycloalkane, cyclohexane, reduce the viscosity of VES solution faster than that of the alkane, hexane. The difference between small molecules of alkane and aromatic hydrocarbons in the viscosity reduction rate of VES solution is >100 times. The study also shows that higher temperature increases the viscosity reduction rate of VES solution. The rate of the viscosity reduction of VES solution decreases as the molecular weight of hydrocarbon increases.