MXPA97009048A - Use of a surfactant of anfoacetate based deimidazoline of high purity as a spent agent in wells of petro - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention obtains the increased quality and strength of a foam for defoaming hydrocarbons by foams used in the formation of well holes and stimulation processes as well as recovery of secondary and tertiary oil using high purity imidazoline-based amphoacetates, which contain substantially non-alkylated amido amines, low amounts of glycolic acid salts and monochloroacetate salts. The high purity amphoacetates can be obtained via processes that use precise pH control during the reaction of the imidazoline, or its open chain derivatives, with alkylating agents, for example sodium monochloroacetate. These high purity amphoacetates contain fully alkylated products and lower amounts of glycolic acid derivatives, although a proportion of the substituted monohaloalicylate to imidazoline, or its open chain derivative, is used of less than 1.5: 1.0 and close to 1.0: 1.

Description

USE OF A SURFACTANT OF ANFOACETATE BASED ON IMIDAZOLINE OF HIGH PURITY AS A SPARKLING AGENT IN PETROLEUM WELLS DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a surfactant composition having excellent foaming characteristics and stability in fresh water or an environment of high electrolyte content which may contain crude oil or mixtures of hydrocarbons ie adapted for use in geothermal operations or of perforated with air or of stimulation and secondary and tertiary recovery of underground formations containing petroleum which use foam, such as processes of operation with CO. This invention relates to a method for increasing the recovery of oil from underground formations underground. In drilling a hole in the ground, a liquid has been practiced universally, such as water, oil, water-in-oil emulsion, or an oil-in-water emulsion, usually with mud solids suspended therein, towards and from the drilling area during the drilling operation. Circulating drilling fluids, generally known as drilling muds, remove drilled solids from bore cuts and boreholes to keep drilling clean and lubricated. The drilling liquid is circulated under high pressure to ensure the trapping of cuts and the expulsion of sludge from the bore hole. In recently discovered oil fields, oil will usually be recovered from a production well under natural pressure from the fluids present in the porous deposit rocks (primary recovery). The pressure that is naturally present in the formation decreases as the fluids are removed and approximately 5% to 20% of the oil present in the formation is recovered. Secondary recovery methods are used to recover more oil, such as metering a fluid in the tank to expel additional oil from the rocks, for example, water flooding. Flooding with water has its own limitations as it is immiscible with oil and as water displaces oil, the oil that remains in the reservoir reaches a limit value known as "the saturation of residual oil" and oil does not flow anymore. There is a strong capillary action which tends to keep the oil in the interstices of the rocks. The amount of oil recovered by secondary techniques is usually from about 5% to 30% of the micially present oil. In recent years, more attention has been directed to improved recovery or tertiary recovery techniques. These tertiary recovery methods are used to recover the residual oil by overcoming the capillary forces which trap oil during flooding with water, such as by adding surfactants to the flood to lower the interfacial tension and thus allow oil droplets move to production wells The secondary recovery of oil is also possible due to the process of displacement of miscible fluid. Propane, for example, could be an appropriate material to use because it is completely. miscible with oil. The use of miscible solvents with crude oil such as only propane or in a combination with kerosene to displace crude oil through formation is well known, as, for example, in the teachings of Morse in the United States Patent. No. 3,354,953. Some wells have been successfully drilled at a reduced pressure using compressed gas, such as air which is pumped into the well at the drilling site. This compressed gas flows rapidly through the bore hole around the drill collar carrying the drilling solids with it, thus removing them from the borehole. While the drilling operation is essentially a dry process, in many formations the water enters the bore hole from adjacent strata that contain water or water trapped underground. There are many advantages of the gas drilling method over the conventional method of mud drilling. However, a difficulty in drilling mist or with dry gas where water seeps into the hole and accumulates in the drilling zone, is that drilled solids tend to agglomerate as soon as the drilling machine rotates. These agglomerated masses become very heavy to be lifted by the gas, so that anti-caking agents and foaming agents must be introduced in the hole to avoid this condition. The technology of air and mud drilling has been combined in an attempt to provide drilling foams which have higher lifting resistance than air but which do not have the pressure limitations of drilling mud. The aqueous properties of aqueous foams are of great importance for a variety of applications in petroleum production. These properties include high flow rates in tubes or pipes and in porous media such as oil bearing sandstones. Aqueous foam has advantages in oil fields containing viscous oil in low pressure tanks. In these operations, the foam elevates to the surface not only sand sprayed by the bit but also fragments and rocks of considerable size it is also known in the art that the oil that does not recover directly by direct pumping can be displaced and recovered from an underground reservoir using secondary and tertiary stimulation or recovery methods such as by injecting a driving fluid containing pressurized gas, and particularly CO in substantially liquid form, water and a surfactant or fracturing the rock stratum. Examples of this type of process can be found in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,502,538 and 4, and No. 4,799,547. It is indicated that in the drive system with COy, a surfactant is used to form "foam", which reduces the mobility of the CO-L in the tank. It is well known in the art that flood processes or deposit impulses, including those using CO2, suffer from a tendency to inject fluids to filter oil from only a limited area of the deposit. The fluids are divided through the recovery pit before they have the opportunity to efficiently invade and displace oil from the reservoir rock. The requirements for use of an aqueous foam in underground formations include high stability with waters containing amounts of soluble salts, such as sodium chloride, calcium salts and / or magnesium salts and ability to handle a variety of foam-breaking elements, for example, tolerance to hydrocarbons such as crude oil and solids. In addition, the foam should not be degraded under extreme conditions of the physical environment of use such as drilling pressure temperature, soil particles and the like. In addition, the most important operating characteristics of a surfactant used in a COj pulse process is its ability to maintain excellent foam generation and stability properties and thus maintain control over the mobility of CO in the presence of a wide range variety of crude oils. The surfactant used in the impulse process with COj. it must be substantially less sensitive to variations in composition and changes in the crude oil deposit since this can seriously affect the foam holding characteristics of the surfactant. Historically, alcohol sulfates ethers have been used for CO mobility control agents. The alcohol sulfates ethers provide a total cost advantage due to the increase in production. It is an object of the present invention to provide a surfactant composition having excellent foaming power and high tolerance to aqueous solutions containing electrolytes and / or hydrocarbons for use in oil well boreholes, such as for drilling, stimulation and recovery of secondary and tertiary oil. It has now been found that the foam holding characteristics of surfactants used in petroleum wells, such as in well drilling, air boring, foam fractionation, gas stimulation or impulse (CO) processes for secondary recovery and tertiary oil can be improved using a high purity imidazoline-based anfoacetate surfactant alone or in combination with other surfactants as will be more fully indicated hereinafter. Combinations of the surfactant of the invention show reduced foam damage due to contact with hydrocarbons and more tolerance to the conventional anionic foaming agents currently in use in the petroleum industry. These characteristics will become completely more evident in the description below. The improved amphoacetate surfactants used in the present invention can be represented by the formula: RC (O) - NH CH CH - N - [(CH) X] CH COOM FORMULA I wherein R is an aliphatic radical containing from about 5 to about 19 carbon atoms per molecule, X is OH or NH7 and n is an integer from 2 to 4 inclusive, and where M is a metal. Preferably, R is an aliphatic radical containing a majority of about 8 to 18 carbon atoms per molecule, X is OH and n equal to 2. These improved amphoacetate surfactants can be prepared by new processes which involve the use of pHs controlled during the entire reaction and particularly during the alkylation portion of the process, such as the controlled addition of an appropriate base slowly or automatically in response to a device that measures pH to maintain a constant pH; or a series of base additions in stages, which are calculated to maintain the pH within the desired range and the like. The products of high purity can be obtained by exposing the iamidazole to conditions which favor the opening of the ring before the alkylation followed by the reaction with the alkylating agent, for example, sodium monochloroacetate, under carefully controlled conditions. Carrying out the reaction of the ylidazoline or its open ring derivative with the haloacetic acid salt under carefully controlled pH and temperature conditions during the reaction allows the reaction to proceed with lower molar ratios of substituted amide-substituted zwitterion or its derivatives to a salt of monohaloacetate resulting in a substantial and totally alkylated product of higher purity (less by-products of non-alkylated amide, glycolic acid, NaCl and residual haloacetate salt). Glycolic acid is formed from the haloacetate salt and is usually compensated by the excess monohaloacetate salt. The imidazoline starting materials useful in the practice of the invention can be represented by the formula: N-CH:! // 1 I - c N - CH FORMULA II J (CH,) n ~ X Where R, n and X are as defined above. Where R is derived from a natural source, R can be a mixture of saturated and unsaturated aliphatic radicals derived from coconut oil or sources of similar natural oils such as palm kernel oil or sources of animal fat such as tallow . In this case, each R which is a mixture of alkyl radicals containing from about 5 to 8 carbon atoms, R may also be in a preferred form derived from a saturated portion of coconut oil or a natural similar vegetable oil. In the case of the coconut oil fatty acid, each R is in the range of about 6 to 18 carbon atoms. These ranges are given as covering approximately 90% of the R groups in the compound. Since these R groups are derived from natural sources, they may contain small amounts of other carbon chains. In addition, imidazolines based on individual carboxylic acids, for example, lauric acid, or other fragments, suitable for the particular application can be used. The imididazolines used in the present invention must be in substantially pure form. It is proposed "substantially pure" to understand substantially free of fatty acids, aminoethylethanolamine, amido esters and diamides. For the purposes of the invention, the presence of amido amides is acceptable. Any convenient method for preparing imidazoline can be used. Examples of the starting imidazolines include 2-heptylimidazoline, 2-dodecyl imidazoline, 2-heptadecylimidazoline, 1-hydroxyethyl-2-dodecyl imidazoline, 1-hydroxy-ethyl-2-he tadecyl imidazoline, and the like. Examples of single fatty acids and mixtures of fatty acids that can be used to prepare the imidazolines may include coconut oil fatty acid, palm kernel oil fatty acid, capric, caproic, caprylic, hexadecadienoic, lauric, linoleic, linolenic, margaric, myristic, my istoleic, oleic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic and the like. Imidazoline ba or controlled conditions are reacted which will favor the opening of the iamidazole ring before the alkylation reaction. In one embodiment of the invention, the amidazolm can be heated under a high pH in the range of about 8.5 to about 10 to facilitate the opening of at least a majority of the iamidazole rings. In an alternative embodiment, the iamidazole can be mixed with the monohaloacetate at elevated pH under conditions that favor ring opening. In a third embodiment, the monohaloacetate can be added to the iamidazole together with the addition of base under conditions which keep the Ph in the range of about 9 to about 10 during the addition. For the alkylation, the amide-oxamide or open-ring derivative is heated with a salt of a monohaloacetate, preferably in an aqueous solution, before mixing with the amidemido. The salt can be prepared from the acid just before the reaction, with an excess of base to provide neutralization to the hydrohalic acid formed during the reaction of the ylidazoline with the salt of the haloacetate. The excess pH is in the range of about 8 to about 10. The haloacetate salt can be purchased or prepared elsewhere, dissolved in water and used as such or preferably with an aggregate amount of base corresponding to the excess discussed above. Examples of suitable monohaloacetate salts in which the cationic portion is an alkali metal ion include sodium monochloroacetate, sodium monobromoacetate, and potassium monochloroacetate and potassium monobromoacetate. Preferred monohaloacetates are the sodium and potassium salts of monochloroacetic acid. Examples of suitable alkali which can be used in the process of the invention include sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate and the like. Preferably, the alkali is sodium hydroxide and / or potassium hydroxide. The molar ratio of the monohaloacetic acid, or its salt form to idiozoline or amine is preferably greater than one. In amounts of less than one, the salt of the monohaloacetic acid is insufficiently present to effect the total absorption leaving the product contaminated with the amine amine which has no surface activity. A surprising result of the present invention is that the ratio can be kept as low as possible with only a small excess necessary to drive the reaction substantially to completion. It is possible by the invention to keep the ratio as low as 1.05: 1. It is preferably in the range of about 1.05: 1 to about 1.5: 1, more preferably 1.05: 1 to about 1.4: 1 and most preferred form of 1.05: 1 to about 1.2: 1. The reaction is generally carried out at a conductive temperature for the reaction as is well known in the industry. The reaction temperatures for the main reaction may be in the range as high as 95 ° C, preferably and most preferably between about 75 ° C and about 85 ° C between about 50 ° C and about 95 ° C. The reaction can be heated after the main reaction is considered completed to ensure completion of the reaction. The temperatures during this portion of the reaction are in the range as high as 100 ° C. The reaction times are sufficient to carry out each desired stage of the reaction and can be easily determined by a skilled artisan. In general, the monohaloacetic acid or monohaloacetate salt is mixed with the imidazoline at a speed as fast as possible and practical to mix the reactants completely. Since the pH control is fundamental the reactants, especially the base, are added at such a rate as to prevent the pH from increasing above approximately the pH of 10. Care must be taken to avoid the "hot spots" located during the addition of the base. The base is added in incremented form to avoid the elevation of pH. Careful control of pH and temperature during the reaction allows the reaction to proceed with less sodium monohaloacetate salt resulting in a higher purity product (fewer by-products of non-alkylated amide, glycolic acid, NaCl and residual haeacetate salt). The compositions of the present invention are characterized by non-alkylated amide levels of less than about 3.5%, preferably less than about 2.0% and more preferably less than about 0.5% of non-alkylated amide; glycolic acid of less than about 4.5%, preferably less than about 3.5% and more preferably less than about 2.5% of alkali metal salt of glycolic acid, for example, sodium chloride. Less than about 27%, preferably less than about 23% and more preferred less than about 20% salt all based on the active ingredients. The details of the process can be observed more fully in the Serial of the United States No.08 / 133, 094, the description of which is incorporated herein for reference. Due to the improved purity, the products of the invention exhibit superior properties of surfactants, greater formulation flexibility, besides being economically more attractive compared to products obtained by purification of materials prepared by the prior art process. As described above the ammoacetate surfactants exhibit improved wetting speed, greater surface tension reduction, high foaming properties, and foam stabilization particularly in the presence of hydrocarbons which are known foam breakers, low toxicity, and excellent compatibility with other anionic, ionic and nonionic surfactants. These products are stable over a wide pH range and are biodegradable. In addition to oil wells, the present invention can be used in any system that depends on the maintenance of a foam while in contact with hydrocarbons for its effectiveness. Examples of such foams include fire fighting foams which can, in combating fires such as airline fires or chemical plants, be in contact with hydrocarbons.

The compositions of the present invention can be used under the same mixing, temperature, pressure and additional additives as are currently used in the art in secondary, and tertiary foaming systems as well as in the formulation of foams for perforation and stimulation, such as those that are based on anionic surfactants. These can be easily determined by a person skilled in the art. In addition to the surfactant which is the subject of the invention, foam stabilizers, foam propellants, deficient point depressants and other common ingredients are also included. It has been found particularly that more effective results can be obtained using a hydrocolloid, and preferably xanthan gum (from about 0.01% to about 0.1% by weight based on the weight of the system containing the surfactant of water, salts and foaming agent). or surfactant packet) as an adjuvant for the surfactant described herein. The surfactant described herein is generally used in an amount effective to prepare a single foam or prepare and stabilize the foam when used with other foaming surfactants. Illustrative amounts of the surfactant described herein are in the range of about 0.01% to about 1.0% by active weight based on the weight of the system containing the surfactant of water, salts and foaming agent or surfactant pack. The present invention will now be more fully illustrated in the examples that follow. The percentage of purity of the products prepared in the examples and as given in the claims is an active basis by weight based on the amount of the active material present in the product as determined by the subtraction of the amount of the sodium chloride, glycolic acid and amido amine as well as reaction solids. The surfactant of the invention as used in the examples is a cocoanfoacetate of Formula I wherein R is coconut, n is 2, m is sodium and the composition of the surfactant is 37% active. This 37% active surfactant will be identified in the examples as "COCOANFO ACETATE". As used herein, GEROPON® As-200 is an ammonium surfactant of sodium cocilisothionate, MIRATAINE® CB is a cocamidopropylbetaine, MIRATAINE® CBS is a cocamidopropylhydroxybentaine, MIRATAINE® CBS is a cocamidopropylhydroxysultaine, MIRANOL® C2M-NP is an amphoteric surfactant of disodium cocoamphodiacetate; MIRANOL® C2M-SF is an amphoteric surfactant of disodium cocoanfodipropionate, RHODACAL® CD128 is an anionic sulfate ether alcohol ammonium surfactant, and RHODOPOL® XGD is a water dispersible xanthan gum. EXAMPLE I Various mixtures of surfactants are tested to determine the ability of a surfactant (s) to maintain a foam when in direct contact with a hydrocarbon. OIL FUND PROCEDURE A brine is prepared containing 11.73 grams / liter of calcium chloride, 6.21 grams / liter of magnesium chloride and 37.84 grams / liter of sodium chloride (Brine A). The pH of a sample of 200 cubic centimeters of brine is adjusted to a pH of 5.0-5.5 by bubbling CO through the sample. To this aliquot of 200 cubic centimeters 1.0 cubic centimeter of a test material (0.5%) is added. Brine A, which contains the test surfactant, is mixed for thirty seconds at high speed in a mixer (Caution). The foam heights are recorded initially and after thirty and sixty seconds. The sample is then mixed in the mixer for an additional thirty seconds and 200 cubic centimeters of the foam is transferred to a graduated cylinder containing five cubic centimeters (2.5%) of the crude petroleum foam. The weight of the 200 cubic centimeters of the foam is measured to calculate the quality of the foam. The ratio of the foam to liquid is measured or the% of the foam is measured initially, and after 5, 10, 30, 60, 12, 20 minutes and 16 hours. TABLE I EVALUATION OF THE FOAM FORMULATION OF THE "A" BRINE WITH 1% OF OIL MOBIL IN THE FUNDS 0.05% OF A (75% CD128: 25% OF X) WITH 0.2% OF RHODOPOL XGD TABLE II EVALUATION OF THE FOAM FORMULATION OF THE "A" BRANCH WITH 1% OF MOBIL OIL IN THE FUNDS WITH 0.05% OF SURFACTANT X WITH 0.2% OF RHODOPOL XGD X = 50% RHODAPEX 75% RHODAPEX 50% RHODAPEX CD128 CD128 CD128 50% COCOANFO- 25% COCOANFO- 50% MIRANOL ACETATE ACETATE C2M-NP HEIGHT OF THE FOAM IN THE MIXER WARING INITIAL AFTER 30 'AFTER 60' PERSISTENCE OF FOAM WITH REGARDING THE TIME (% OF FOAM) INITIAL 98 98 98 AFTER 5 '97 98 96 AFTER 10 '95 97 92 AFTER 30 '85 94 79 AFTER 60 '80 84 75 AFTER 120 '75 78 71 AFTER 16 HS. 66 40 ** TRAZAS QUALITY OF THE FOAM WEIGHT OF 200 CE DE 44 52 FOAM (GM) QUALITY OF THE 71 74 FOAM VERY LOW DENSITY FOAM TABLE III FOAM EVALUATION FORMULATION OF THE "A" BRANCH WITH 1% OIL MOBIL IN THE FUNDS 0.05% OF SURFACTANT X X = 50% RHODACAL 50% RHODAPEX A246 / L CD128 50% COCOANFO- 50% COCOANFO- ACETATE ACETATE HEIGHT OF THE FOAM IN THE MIXER WARING INITIAL 2.7 AFTER 30"2.7 AFTER 60" 2.7 PERSISTENCE OF THE FOAM WITH RESPECT TO TIME (% OF FOAM) INITIAL 95 95 AFTER 5 '85 80 AFTER 10' 68 76 AFTER 30 '63 72 AFTER 60' 57 71 AFTER 120 '53 67 AFTER 16 HS 7 TRACES FOAM QUALITY WEIGHT OF 200 cm c. DE 84 50 FOAM (GM) FOAM QUALITY 75 TABLE IV EVALUATION OF THE FOAM FORMULATION OF THE "A" BRANCH WITH 1% OIL MOBIL IN THE FUNDS 0.05% OF SURFACTANT X WITH 0.2% OF RHODOPOL XGD X = 33% RHODAPEX 33% RHODAPEX CD128 CD128 33% RHODACAL 33% RHODACAL 246 / L A246 / L 33% COCOANFO- 33% COCOANFO- C2M-NP ACETATE HEIGHT OF THE FOAM IN THE MIXER WARING INITIAL 4.6 AFTER 30 '4.6 AFTER 60' 4.6 PERSISTENCE OF THE FOAM WITH RESPECT TO THE FOAM TIME) INITIAL 98 98 AFTER 5 '95 96 AFTER 10' 90 90 AFTER 30 '85 85 AFTER 60' 74 75 AFTER 120 '68 72 AFTER 16 HS. 20 ** 60 QUALITY OF FOAM WEIGHT OF 200 cm c. DE 60 75 FOAM (GM) QUALITY OF FOAM 70 62.5 ** VERY LOW DENSITY FOAM TABLE V FOAM EVALUATION FORMULATION OF THE "A" BREAKER WITH 1% OF MOBIL OIL IN THE FUNDS WITH 0.05% OF SURFACTANT X WITH 0.2% OF RHODOPOL XGD X = 15% ETILEN 15% PROPILEN 15% ETILEN GLICOL GLICOL GLICO 29% RHODAPEX 29% RHODAPEX 29% 0 CD128 CD128 29% RHODACAL 29% RHODACAL 29:% RHODACAL A246 / L 246 / L A246 / L 29% COCOANFO- 29% COCOANFO- 29%; COCOANFO- ACETATE ACETATE ACETATE HEIGHT OF THE FOAM IN THE MIXER WARING INITIAL 5 5.5 7 AFTER 30"5 5.5 7 AFTER 60"5 5.5 7 PERSISTENCE OF THE FOAM WITH RESPECT AT THE TIME (% OF FOAM) INITIAL 98 98 98 AFTER 5 '95 97 98 AFTER 10 '90 87 95 AFTER 30 '86 84 90 AFTER 60 '77 77 83 AFTER 120 '70 71 77 AFTER 16 HS. 42 32 67 FOAM QUALITY WEIGHT OF 200 cm c. DE 65 61 53 FOAM (GM) FOAM QUALITY 67.5 69.5 73.5 0 Ammonium sulfate ether * VERY LOW DENSITY FOAM The results of these tests show that sodium cocoanfoacetate alone or in combination with a foaming agent provides good initial foam and stabilizes the foam in times longer than 16 hours while in contact with hydrocarbons while other formulations that are not formulated according to the invention show little or no foam after 16 hours. EXAMPLE II Based on the criteria for the CO mobility control agent, a hydrocarbon tolerant foam agent is developed which has the following formulation: 28.6% DE RHODAPEX® CD128 28.6% DE RHODOCAL® A246 / L 28.6% DE COCOANFOACETATE (37%) 14.3% OF ETHYLENE GLYCOL This formulation can be used as an agent for controlling the mobility of CO ^ o as a foam agent for foam fractionation or air perforation. This composition is significantly more tolerant than conventional ammonia foam agents currently in use in the petroleum industry. While the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiments, it will be understood that various modifications thereof will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the specification. Therefore, it will be understood that the invention described herein is intended to cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (19)

1. CLAIMS Claim 1. A process for treating a surface with sustainable foam by means of a foaming surfactant characterized in that the foaming surfactant comprises an amphoacetate derivative of high purity substituted imidazoline which contains as component thereof a compound of the formula:
2. RC (O) - NH CH CH - N - [(CH) X] CH COOM FORMULA wherein R represents an aliphatic radical containing from about 5 to about 19 carbon atoms per molecule, X is OH or NH, n is an integer from 2 to 4 inclusive and M is a metal, the composition containing less than about 3.5% non-alkylated amide and less than about 4.5% glycolic acid. Claim 2. A process for treating a wellbore with foam by means of a foaming surfactant characterized in that the foaming surfactant comprises a high purity substituted imidazoline-derived amphoacetate containing a main component thereof a compound of the formula:
3. RC (O) - NH CH CH - N - [(CH) X] CH COOM FORMULA wherein R represents an aliphatic radical containing from about 5 to about 19 carbon atoms per molecule, X is OH or NH, n is an integer from 2 to 4 inclusive and M is a metal, the composition containing less than about 3.5% non-alkylated amide and less than about 4.5% glycolic acid. Claim 3. The process according to claim 1 characterized in that the composition contains less than about 2.0% non-alkylated amide.
4. Claim 4. The process according to claim 1 characterized in that the composition contains less than about 3.5% glycolic acid.
5. Claim 5. The composition according to claim 1 characterized in that the composition additionally contains less than about 27% alkali metal halide salt.
6. Claim 6. The process according to claim 1 characterized in that X is OH.
7. Claim 7. The process according to claim 1 characterized in that R is derived from a member selected from the group consisting of coconut oil fatty acids, palm kernel oil fatty acids, cappco acids, caproic, caprylic, hexadecadienoic, lauric, linoleic, lmolemco, margapco, myristic, mipstoleic, oleic, palmitic, palmitoleic and stearic and mixtures thereof.
8. Claim 8. The process according to claim 1 characterized in that M is an alkali metal.
9. Claim 9. The conformance process according to claim 1 characterized in that R is derived from fatty acids of coconut oil, n is 2, X is OH and M is sodium.
10. Claim 10. The process according to claim 2 characterized in that it also includes from about 0.01% to about 1.0% by weight of a hydrocolloid.
11. Claim 11. The process according to claim 10 characterized in that the hydrocolloid is xanthan gum.
12. Claim 12. The process according to claim 2, characterized in that the amphoacetate surfactant is prepared using the process comprising: a) Reacting an alkyl amide with heat at a pH in the range of about 8.5 to about 9.5 for a period of sufficient time to open a majority of alkyl imidazoline rings. b) Reacting the product of step a) with a mnohaloacetic acid or a salt thereof in the presence of an alkali under conditions such that the pH of the reaction mixture during the reaction does not exceed a pH above about pH of 10, the reaction temperature that is in the range of approximately 50 ° C to about 95 ° C, and c) recovering the anfoacetate surfactant.
13. Claim 13. A process for recovering hydrocarbons from a formation having hydrocarbons below the surface of the earth characterized in that a foam is used in the recovery of the hydrocarbon, the foam comprising an amphoacetate derived from high purity substituted imidazoline which contains as main component a compound of the formula: RC (O) - NH CH CH - N - [(CH) X] CH COOM FORMULA wherein R represents an aliphatic radical coning from about 5 to about 19 carbon atoms per molecule, X is OH or NH, n is an integer from 2 to 4 inclusive and M is a metal, the composition coning less than about 3.5% non-alkylated amide and less than about 4.5% glycolic acid.
14. Claim 14. The process of compliance with Claim 13 characterized in that the foam also cons approximately 0.01 to 1.0 percent of the weight of a hydrocolloid.
15. Claim 15. The process according to claim 14 characterized in that the hydrocolloid is a xanthan gum.
16. Claim 16. The process according to claim 13, characterized in that the surfactant is used in an amount in the range from about 0.01 to about 1.0 of the active weight percentage.
17. Claim 17. The process according to claim 13 characterized in that the foam further comprises an anionic, or non-ionic, surfactant and mixtures thereof.
18. Claim 18. The process according to claim 13 characterized in that the process for recovering hydrocarbons includes direct drilling, fracturing, or improved recovery of oil and mixtures thereof.
19. Claim 19. A process for introducing to the well drilling operation drilling zone in the presence of water a flowing amount of a composition prepared using a foaming surfactant characterized in that the foam comprises a high purity substituted imidazoline-derived amphoacetate which cons as the main component a compound of the formula: RC (O) - NH CH CH - N - [(CH) X] CH COOM FORMULA I wherein R represents an aliphatic radical coning from about 5 to about 19 carbon atoms per molecule, X is OH or NH, n is an integer from 2 to 4 inclusive and M is a metal, the composition coning less than about 3.5% non-alkylated amide and less than about 4.5% glycolide acid.