Abstract: Tertiary oil recovery requires a large number of cost-effective sulfonate surfactants. Mixed alkylbenzene sulfonates were synthesized with fuming sulphuric acid using different distillate oils as raw materials and anhydrous aluminum trichloride as catalyst. The comprehensive properties of synthetic samples were evaluated. The interfacial tension between the mixed alkylbenzene sulfonate and the typeⅠ and Ⅱ crude oil of four blocks in Shengli oil field was less than 5×10^-3 mN/m and the interfacial tension was 3×10^-2 mN/m for the type Ⅲ crude oil. Moreover, the synthesized sulfonate has a wider concentration window, higher salt tolerance, lower adsorption performance, better compatibility with polymer and better comprehensive performance than similar products. The analysis of infrared, mass spectrum and carbon distribution showed that the composition is more complex than that of petroleum sulfonate and more similar to that of crude oil.

Key words: mixed alkylbenzene sulfonates, alkylation reaction, sulfonation reaction, interfacial tension, performance evaluation