ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,215,275, issued on Feb. 4.
"Compositions for enhanced oil recovery" was invented by Duy T. Nguyen (Richmond, Texas) and Tzu-Ping Hsu (Richmond, Texas).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Compositions and methods for increasing recovery, or flowback, of hydrocarbon compounds from hydrocarbon-containing subterranean oil formations. Concentrates include a sulfonated and/or a sulfated surfactant, an alkoxylated alcohol surfactant, a coupling agent, a hydrotrope, an additional surfactant, and water. Injectate compositions for oil recovery include the concentrate and a water source such as a produced water and/or seawater. Inclusion of particular hyd...