Emulsion Characteristics and Novel Demulsifiers for Treating Chemical Induced Emulsions

Nguyen, Duy; Sadeghi, Nick; Houston, Christopher

doi:10.2118/143987-ms

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…D. Nguyen et al 13 have reported that the effect of polymer on emulsion stability of produced liquid in SP (surfactant and polymer) or ASP (alkali, surfactant, and polymer) flooding is complicated, the oil droplets were not only stabilized by steric stabilization of the polymer but also by electrostatic stabilization. Surfactants and alkali decrease the interfacial tension (IFT) and Zeta potential, contributing to the stability of oil droplets.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Environmentally-Friendly Method for Disposal of the ASP Flooding Produced Water

et al. 2013

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In the field practice of alkaline/surfactant/polymer (ASP) flooding, many produced water disposal methods faced the challenges of purifying effect, facilities pollution, healthy and environmental threat, and economical justification with the water cut rising of the benefited oil wells and the appearance of alkali, surfactant and polymer in produced water. Focus on using the physical comprehensive effects to remove the oil and suspended solids in produced water is an environmentallyfriendly method development recently to address the challenges. A laboratory investigation of characterizing the properties of ASP flooding produced water was recently carried out. The oil-water separation processes were practiced, including sedimentation with aeration, lateral flow coalescence and dissolved air flotation. The micro-flocculation suspended sludge blanket filtration process disposal ASP flooding produced water was studied. The application effect of the combination disposal process was assessed, and the operation parameters of aeration rate, dissolved-air pressure, reflux ratio and filtering velocity were optimized.The results show that the ASP flooding produced water is characterized by high salinity, high viscosity, small oil droplet size, high oil content, strong electronegativity and stability. There appears to be a nonlinearity relationship between aeration rate, dissolved-air pressure, reflux ratio, filtering velocity and disposal effect. Compared with the previous polymer flooding produced water sedimentation and filtration disposal process, the sludge amount of the ASP flooding produced water was decreased more than 70.0%, power and agent expense was reduced 60.0%, secondary pollution was decreased drastically and running expense was also saved when disposed under the combination disposal process and operation parameters. And the produced water could meet the re-injection standard of high permeability reservoir after disposal. As the matching technology of ASP flooding enhanced oil recovery (EOR), the environmentally-friendly produced water disposal method is worth pursuing.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Environmentally-Friendly Method for Disposal of the ASP Flooding Produced Water

et al. 2013

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“…In the background of ASP injection processes, research has been carried out since 2001 on the properties of emulsified and stabilized fluids produced from the reservoir. − The main difficulty that occurs is the stability of w/o and o/w emulsions that hinders the water and oil gravity separation process. Studies can be found on the choice of demulsifiers (to breakdown w/o and o/w emulsions) to enhance the coalescence phenomena between the dispersed droplets or on the improvement of the mechanical design of coalescence plates in the separator …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…18−20 The main difficulty that occurs is the stability of w/o and o/w emulsions that hinders the water and oil gravity separation process. Studies can be found on the choice of demulsifiers (to breakdown w/o and o/w emulsions) to enhance the coalescence phenomena between the dispersed droplets 21 or on the improvement of the mechanical design of coalescence plates in the separator. 20 Stabilization of macroemulsions is not in thermodynamic equilibrium as compared to that of microemulsions, contributing in the process of EOR flooding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Alkali/Surfactant/Polymer Flooding on Separation and Stabilization of Water/Oil Emulsion by Statistical Modeling

Al-Kayiem

Khan

2017

Energy Fuels

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Alkali/Surfactant/Polymer flooding is a chemical method for enhanced oil recovery. This study emphases the sensitivity of Alkali/Surfactant/Polymer flooding for the separation and stabilization of light oil emulsion in the primary gravity separator. A laser scattering technique by Turbiscan was used to determine the sedimentation of the water phase. A statistical modeling has been carried out to find the effectiveness of Alkali/Surfactant/Polymer on water in oil emulsion. The results show that the presence of alkali has a positive but insignificant effect on destabilization of emulsion in the concentration range from 500 to 1500 ppm. The addition of weak alkali, Na2CO3, is less problematic for separation. It was found that surfactant alone and surfactant–surfactant cross-interaction were the most significant additives causing reduction of water separation. However, the interaction effects between the alkali and surfactant, between the surfactant and polymer, and between polymer and polymer had significant influences on the water separation. An anionic hydrolyzed polyacrylamide polymer flooding has a positive effect on separation in the presence of low water cut and light crude oil emulsion. Polymer shows a positive effect on separation but the clarity (light transmission fraction) of the separated water is reduced. The clarity of the separated water is more than 83% and around 69% at 400 and 800 ppm polymer concentrations, respectively. Increase in alkali and surfactant has insignificant effect on the clarity of separated water. Based on the statistical model, empirical correlations were developed to predict the separation of water.

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“…During the application of chemical EOR floods, breakthrough of the injection chemicals such as surfactant, alkali and polymer or polymer alone periodically occurs resulting in stable emulsions. The practice indicates that emulsions created by chemical flooding have been extremely difficult to break due to the high concentration of alkali, surfactant and polymer tightly bound with the oil and water [24]. The same as the result of strengthening shearing action, the stability of the emulsions are enhanced with an increase of chemicals concentration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Shearing Energy and Interfacial Gibbs Free Energy in the Emulsification Mechanism of Waxy Crude Oil

Wang

Lin

Rui³

et al. 2017

Energies

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Abstract:Crude oil is generally produced with water, and the water cut produced by oil wells is increasingly common over their lifetime, so it is inevitable to create emulsions during oil production. However, the formation of emulsions presents a costly problem in surface process particularly, both in terms of transportation energy consumption and separation efficiency. To deal with the production and operational problems which are related to crude oil emulsions, especially to ensure the separation and transportation of crude oil-water systems, it is necessary to better understand the emulsification mechanism of crude oil under different conditions from the aspects of bulk and interfacial properties. The concept of shearing energy was introduced in this study to reveal the driving force for emulsification. The relationship between shearing stress in the flow field and interfacial tension (IFT) was established, and the correlation between shearing energy and interfacial Gibbs free energy was developed. The potential of the developed correlation model was validated using the experimental and field data on emulsification behavior. It was also shown how droplet deformation could be predicted from a random deformation degree and orientation angle. The results indicated that shearing energy as the energy produced by shearing stress working in the flow field is the driving force activating the emulsification behavior. The deformation degree and orientation angle of dispersed phase droplet are associated with the interfacial properties, rheological properties and the experienced turbulence degree. The correlation between shearing stress and IFT can be quantified if droplet deformation degree vs. droplet orientation angle data is available. When the water cut is close to the inversion point of waxy crude oil emulsion, the interfacial Gibbs free energy change decreased and the shearing energy increased. This feature is also presented in the special regions where the suddenly changed flow field can be formed. Hence, the shearing energy is an effective form that can show the contribution of kinetic energy for the oil-water mixtures to interfacial Gibbs free energy in emulsification process, and the emulsification mechanism of waxy crude oil-water emulsions was further explained from the theoretical level.

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Emulsion Characteristics and Novel Demulsifiers for Treating Chemical Induced Emulsions

Cited by 18 publications

References 14 publications

An Environmentally-Friendly Method for Disposal of the ASP Flooding Produced Water

An Environmentally-Friendly Method for Disposal of the ASP Flooding Produced Water

Evaluation of Alkali/Surfactant/Polymer Flooding on Separation and Stabilization of Water/Oil Emulsion by Statistical Modeling

The Role of Shearing Energy and Interfacial Gibbs Free Energy in the Emulsification Mechanism of Waxy Crude Oil

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