Effect of Salinity, Temperature, Water Content, and pH on the Microwave Demulsification of Crude Oil Emulsions

Abstract

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.

Optimization of Demulsifier Formulation for Separation of Water From Crude Oil Emulsions

“…The salt ions lead to an increase in relaxation of the formed film (Binks, 1993). These results are in agreement with those obtained by Fortuny et al (2007), who studied the effects of salinity, temperature, water content and pH on the stability of crude oil emulsions upon microwave treatment and found that the demulsification process was achieved with high efficiencies for emulsions containing high water contents, except when high pH and salt contents were simultaneously involved. Additionally, Moradi et al (2011) indicated that emulsions are more stable at lower ionic strength of the aqueous phase.…”

“…According to the literature (Tambe and Sharma, 1993;Binks, 1993;Johansen et al, 1988;Porter, 1994;Poteau et al, 2005;Fortuny et al, 2007;Daaou et al, 2011), adjusting the pH of emulsions seems indeed to be effective in resolution of waterin-oil emulsions; thus, a series of tests were prepared as a function of pH. The effects of pH on emulsion properties were evaluated by adding HCl or NaOH solutions to the aqueous phase prior to emulsion preparation.…”

“…There are numerous parameters that contribute to the stability of the interfacial film and as a result to emulsion stability, such as water pH and the additive content (Poteau et al, 2005;Fortuny et al, 2007;Daaou et al, 2011), but these effects show different behavior for various oil origins (Strassner, 1968;Pathak and Kumar, 1995;McLean and Kilpatrick, 1997a;Goldszal et al, 2002). For example, Daou et al (2011) studied the effect of pH on Algerian crude oil emulsions and suggested that a neutral medium is more efficient than an acidic or basic environment for stabilizing the emulsions.…”

“…For example, Daou et al (2011) studied the effect of pH on Algerian crude oil emulsions and suggested that a neutral medium is more efficient than an acidic or basic environment for stabilizing the emulsions. Fortuny et al (2007) studied the effects of salinity, temperature, water content and pH on the stability of crude oil emulsions based on microwave treatment and showed that, in emulsions containing high water contents, the rate of demulsification is high, except when high pH and salt content were simultaneously involved. Additionally, Moradi et al (2011) studied the impact of salinity on crude oil/water emulsions by measuring the droplet-size distribution visualized by an optical microscopy method, and found that emulsions are more stable at lower ionic strength of the aqueous phase.…”

Microwave Synthesis, Extraction, Improvement and Degradation in Oil Chemistry

“…The optimal frequency was observed to change with increases in salt concentrations to 0.6 1.8 GHz. Fortuny and co-workers examined influence of the water impurity content, salinity, and pH in efficiency of deemulsion 29 . Changes in the size of the W/O emulsion 3.5 100.1 μm and the influence of heat by microwave was investigated.…”