Comparative Study of Cashew Nut Shell Liquid and a Commercial Demulsifier for Treating Crude Oil Emulsions

Abstract

Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL), a natural phenolic liquid extracted from locally sourced raw materials, and Phasetreat-4633 (a commercial demulsifier) were diluted with xylene and butanol and used as demulsifiers in the treatment of crude oil emulsions. Laboratory simulated crude oil emulsions dosed with different concentrations of CNSL and PT-4633 were the basis for comparison of demulsifier performance via the bottle test method.
 Different factors affecting demulsification efficiency such as; water content, demulsifier concentration, and solvent type were investigated at 10%, 30%, and 50% water content. The data obtained showed that the rate of water separation increases with increasing concentration and water content of the demulsifiers and emulsion respectively. Among the demulsifier-solvent combination employed in this study, Phasetreat-4633 in butanol recorded the most efficient water separation with optimal (100%) separation recorded after 5 minutes at 40 ppm and 50 ppm concentration, 50% water content and 60℃.
 From the obtained results, the investigated demulsifiers have great potential with butanol as a solvent in the resolution of crude oil emulsions in shorter times. This behavior can be attributed to the synergetic effect of butanol as a solvent. Hence, butanol can be regarded as a better solvent substitute to xylene, due to its attributive synergetic effect, low cost and toxicity levels, unlike xylene which is more toxic and expensive.

Development of Sustainable Chemistry in Madagascar: Example of the Valuation of CNSL and the Use of Chromones as an Attractant for Mosquitoes

“…It gives 70% of anacardic acid (1), 16% of cardol (2) and 4% of cardanol (3) isolated after precipitation with calcium hydroxide and column chromatography. This is very close to what is described by O. Victor-Oji et al [28]. In some cases, cashew nut shells were collected over 3 years ago and the results turned out to be very similar, which shows the very high stability of this raw material.…”

“…Foaming Property and Cleaning Powers Foaming property has been tested according to standard (NFT 73-404). This is a static method by Ross-Miles [28]. It involves evaluating the volume of the initial foam and its stability over time.…”

Evaluation of triethanolamine-cashew nutshell liquid derivatives as crude oil emulsion breakers

“…The properties of the CNSL extract as determined by Victor-Oji et al [7] showed that the oil extract was dark-brown in colour, with a percentage yield of 35, and specific gravity of 0.87 at 22.5 ℃. The acid, iodine, and saponification values were 1.63, 71.76 and 173.44 respectively.…”

“…The hot extraction method involves; the roasting process at 300 ℃, hot oil bath process and steam processing at 270 ℃, the CNSL obtained by this method is referred to as Technical CNSL (TCNSL)majorly composed of cardanol, while cold extraction method involves; solvent extraction using acetone, hexane, ethanol, toluene or by a hydraulic press and the CNSL obtained via this method is referred to as Natural CNSL (NCNSL)majorly composed of anacardic acid (as shown in Table 1) [5,6]. NCNSL has been found to be effective as demulsifiers [7] and has also been used in the synthesis of phenolic resins that were effective as pour point depressants (PPDs) in waxy crude oils [8]. The unique chemical properties of CSNL, its availability as a cheap, sustainable and renewable source for naturally occurring substituted phenols and unsaturated phenols, holds promise as an alternative raw material to conventional chemical demulsifiers in the development of novel surfactants for resolving crude oil emulsions [2,3].…”

“…This study differs from similar studies; in that, it is focused on the development and experimental investigation of triethanolamine ester derivatives as emulsion breakers. However, previous works [7,9] focused on the demulsification efficiency of NCNSL and its ethanolamine-ester derivatives as demulsifiers and crude-oil emulsion breakers respectively.…”