Surfactant Definition

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Surfactant:

A soluble compound that concentrates on the surface boundary between two substances such as oil and water and reduces the surface tension between the substances.

The use of surfactants permits the thorough surface contact or mixing of substances that ordinarily remain separate.

Surfactants are used in the petroleum industry as additives to drilling mud and to water during chemical flooding.

See micellar-polymer flooding; surfactant mud

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