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Surfactants (surface-active agents) are wetting agents that lower the surface tension of a liquid, allowing easier spreading, and lower the interfacial tension between two liquids

Saponification value: number of milligrams of KOH or sodium hydroxide required to saponify 1g of fat. A measure of the average molecular weight (or chain length) of all the fatty acids present.

acid value is the mass of potassium hydroxide (KOH) in milligrams that is required to neutralize one gram of chemical substance. i.e to quantify the amount of acid present in biodiesel.

huff and puff: to breathe very hard; to pant as one exerts effort
Cyclic steam stimulation (steam injection): (1) injection, (2) soaking and (3)production.
Steam is first injected into a well for a certain amount of time to heat the oil in the surrounding reservoir to a temperature at which it flows. Left to “soak” for some time after. Oil is produced out at first by natural flow.

It has been found that there exists an optimum concentration with respect to both alkali and added surfactant, at which the interfacial tension is the lowest. dependent on acid concentration.

Prediction of Emulsion Stability via a Neural Network-Based Mapping Technique
Ubiratan F. de Souza, Frank H. Quina, and Roberto Guardani
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2007, 46 (15), pp 5100–5107
…These tests are time-consuming and subject to visual inaccuracies between different operators…a neural network-based model is tested as a tool for predicting the emulsification properties of mixtures of surfactants, organic solvents,…

Capillary forces cause a large quantities of oil to be left behind in well-swept zones of water-flooded oil reservoirs: interfacial tension between the oil and the aqueous phase resists externally applied viscous forces. Lowering the interfacial tension helps recover additional oil by reducing the capillary forces.