Patents by Inventor William B. Braden, Jr.

William B. Braden, Jr. has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Process for recovering hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon-bearing formation
    Patent number: 4192755
    Abstract: A method for transporting heavy crude oil through a pipeline which involves introducing into a pipeline or well-bore with the viscous hydrocarbons an aqueous solution containing (1) a sulfonate surfactant, (2) a rosin soap or a naphthenic acid soap and, optionally (3) coupling agent whereby there is spontaneously formed a low viscosity, salt tolerant, oil-in-water emulsion. Also disclosed is a method of recovery of hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon bearing formation employing an aqueous solution containing (1) a sulfonate surfactant, (2) a rosin soap or a naphthenic acid soap and, optionally (3) a coupling agent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 1978
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1980
    Assignee: Texaco Inc.
    Inventors: Kenoth H. Flournoy, Robert B. Alston, William B. Braden, Jr.
  • Aqueous surfactant solutions and oil-in-water emulsions
    Patent number: 4192767
    Abstract: A method for transporting heavy crude oil through a pipeline which involves introducing into a pipeline or well-bore with the viscous hydrocarbons an aqueous solution containing (1) a sulfonate surfactant, (2) a rosin soap or a naphthenic acid soap and, optionally (3) a coupling agent whereby there is spontaneously formed a low viscosity, salt tolerant, oil-in-water emulsion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 1978
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1980
    Assignee: Texaco Inc.
    Inventors: Kenoth H. Flournoy, Robert B. Alston, William B. Braden, Jr.
  • Pipeline transportation of heavy crude oil
    Patent number: 4134415
    Abstract: A method for transporting heavy crude oil through a pipeline which involves introducing into a pipeline or well-bore with the viscous hydrocarbons an aqueous solution containing (1) a sulfonate surfactant, (2) a rosin soap or a naphthenic acid soap and, optionally (3) a coupling agent whereby there is spontaneously formed a low viscosity, salt tolerant, oil-in-water emulsion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 1977
    Date of Patent: January 16, 1979
    Assignee: Texaco Inc.
    Inventors: Kenoth H. Flournoy, Robert B. Alston, William B. Braden, Jr.
  • Method of oil recovery employing enriched gas drive with control of evolved gas
    Patent number: 4086961
    Abstract: A method for the recovery of hydrocarbons from a subterranean hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir by an enriched gas drive wherein lean gas, evolved from the miscible transition zone, is produced ahead of the miscible transition zone and reinjected behind the solvent injection point whereby excessive gas production is utilized and a drive agent miscible with the solvent is provided to displace the reservoir fluids through the reservoir to a production well from which they are produced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 1977
    Date of Patent: May 2, 1978
    Assignees: Texaco Inc., Texaco Exploration Canada Ltd.
    Inventors: William B. Braden, Jr., George H. Agnew
  • Micellar dispersions with tolerance for extreme water hardness for use in petroleum recovery
    Patent number: 4059154
    Abstract: A novel, thickened, miscible flooding medium to displace petroleum in subterranean reservoirs is a dispersion of light hydrocarbons, water and a surfactant system. The water may have from about 1500 to 12,000 parts per million polyvalent ions such as calcium and/or magnesium. The surfactant system comprises a water soluble salt of an alkyl or an alkylaryl sulfonate plus a water soluble salt of an alkyl or alkylaryl polyethoxy sulfate anionic surfactant plus a nonionic surfactant such as a polyethoxylated alkyl phenol, a polyethoxylated aliphatic alcohol or a fatty acid mono or dialkanolamide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 1976
    Date of Patent: November 22, 1977
    Assignee: Texaco Inc.
    Inventors: William B. Braden, Jr., Kenoth H. Flournoy