Electron micrography of emulsions of water in crude petroleum

Roles of Various Bitumen Components in the Stability of Water-in-Diluted-Bitumen Emulsions

“…Eley et al (2) found that water-in-oil emulsions attain their highest stability when asphaltenes are at or near the point of precipitation. This notion is supported by McLean and Kilpatrick (4,5) in their study on emulsions formed in model systems.…”

Water-in-Hydrocarbon Emulsions Stabilized by Asphaltenes at Low Concentrations

“…Fine particles were observed on water-crude oil interfaces in electron micrographs (13). It is not clear if the particles were asphaltenes, wax, or another substance, or if the particles were present before the sample was frozen for the micrograph.…”

Effect of the structure of commercial poly(ethylene oxide-b-propylene oxide) demulsifier bases on the demulsification of water-in-crude oil emulsions: elucidation of the demulsification mechanism

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Due to the complex composition of crude oils, it is common to characterize each crude oil in terms the four SARA-fractions: saturates (S); aromatics (A); resins (R); asphaltenes (A). 7 The asphaltenes are defined as the crude oil fraction insoluble in high apolar light n-alkanes, such as n-pentane or n-heptane, and soluble in low polar solvents, such as benzene and toluene.…”