The main objective of this work is to investigate the effect of a set of crude oil emulsion variables, including pH and salt and water contents, upon the microwave demulsification process. A series of batch demulsification runs were carried out to evaluate the final emulsified water content of emulsion samples after the exposure to microwaves. Tests were performed at distinct heating temperatures, using water-in-heavy crude oil emulsion samples containing different salt and water contents and pH. Well-defined temperature programs were established to control the amount of energy applied to the emulsion and, ultimately, the viscosity. Higher microwave demulsification efficiencies were achieved for emulsions containing high water contents, except when high pH and salt contents were simultaneously involved.

The main objective of this work is to investigate the role of two types of ionic liquids, omimBF4 and omimPF6, upon the microwave demulsification process. A series of batch demulsification runs were carried out to evaluate the final emulsified water content of emulsion samples after the exposure to microwaves at distinct ionic liquid concentrations. Tests were performed in a commercial microwave reactor system, using high stable water-in-crude oil emulsion samples containing different salt and water contents. Similar separation tests conducted under conventional heating were investigated for comparisons. Results showed that increasing the concentration of each ionic liquid yields improved demulsification results in both microwave and conventional heating processes. However, the microwave process was always much faster and more efficient than the conventional case. Blank tests without ionic liquid have not produced water separation, which indicates the high stability of the investigated emulsions. In particular, the joint use of omimPF6 (even at low concentrations) and microwave irradiation allows for system demulsification with high efficiency at short time, with some cases even reaching water contents in the range of 1−2% in the final emulsion.

The use of ionic liquids (ILs) as demulsifiers of water-in-crude oil emulsions represents a new field of study. The main purpose of this work is to investigate the effect of five ILs, [C 4 and a set of operation parameters on the demulsification process, including the heating type (conventional and microwave), IL concentration (0.74−8.9 μmol/g), effect of alkyl chain length, and effect of cation and anion type on demulsification efficiency. The results indicated that the demulsification was favored when more hydrophobic ILs and longer cation alkyl chains were employed, such as [C 12 mim] + [NTf 2 ] − , reaching values close to 92% of water removal. Moreover, the joint use of microwaves and hydrophobic ILs allowed us to maximize the demulsification efficiency.