Modeling of viscosity of unstable crude oil–water mixture by characterization of energy consumption and crude oil physical properties

Luo, Haijun; Wen, Jiangbo; Wang, Zhihua

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2022.110222

Cited by 25 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…According to our previous work, the apparent viscosity of the COE does not depend on the content of single surfactants such as resins, asphaltenes, waxes, and mechanical impurities but is closely related to the content of combinatorial surfactants, that is, the sum of the contents of resins, asphaltenes, waxes, and mechanical impurities. The apparent viscosity of the COE is affected by the overall synergistic effect of various surfactants in crude oil, that is, the apparent viscosity of the COE increases with the increasing content of combinatorial surfactants.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 94%

“…In this work, the stirring viscometric method proposed in our previous study was applied to determine the apparent viscosities of unstable O/W emulsions. The details of the stirring viscometric apparatus and method for determining the apparent viscosities of unstable oil–water systems are all presented in our previous work . Some brief, necessary, and helpful information is given here.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The emulsification experiments were carried out with 16 kinds of crude oils having significant differences in physical properties from different oilfields in China, which were the same as the crude oils used in our previous work. 32 The crude oils are numbered #1–#16, respectively, and the physical properties are listed in Table 1 . It should be noted that the content of surfactants in Table 1 refers to the sum of the content of resins, asphaltenes, waxes, and mechanical impurities.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling of the Phase Inversion Point of Crude Oil Emulsion by Characterization of Crude Oil Physical Properties

et al. 2022

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Accurate prediction of the phase inversion point (PIP) of crude oil emulsion (COE) will give important guiding significance to the mixed transportation technology during the crude oil mining process. The influence of water cut of a system on viscosity characteristics of the COE was studied by emulsification experiments with 16 kinds of crude oils having significant differences in physical properties. The results showed that under the condition of low water cut of a system, the crude oils can emulsify all the water to form stable W/O emulsions with apparent viscosities much higher than those of pure crude oils. When the water cut of a system exceeds a certain critical value, the crude oils have no ability to emulsify all water; instead, they are wrapped by a water phase and form unstable O/W emulsions, and their apparent viscosities decrease sharply compared with those of pure crude oils. The critical water cut of a system corresponding to the abrupt change of apparent viscosity of the COE is the PIP of the COE changing from the type of W/O to O/W. Furthermore, the apparent viscosities of stable W/O emulsions decrease with increasing shear rate and temperature and meanwhile increase dramatically with the increasing water cut of a system. The apparent viscosities of unstable O/W emulsions decrease with increasing shear rate, water cut of a system, and temperature and are far lower than those of pure crude oils. Four typical parameters were chose as the representation to describe the crude oil physical properties (COPPs), that is, the content of saturates, the content of aromatics, the content of surfactants, and the crude oil acid number. On the basis of the quantitative description of COPPs, a prediction model for the PIP of the COE was established. The results of model verification showed that the mean relative deviation of prediction results was 2.9%.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling of the Phase Inversion Point of Crude Oil Emulsion by Characterization of Crude Oil Physical Properties

et al. 2022

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“…When present in oil–water systems, they are bound to be adsorbed and arranged at the oil–water interface to form an interfacial film . Furthermore, the change of the properties of the interfacial film not only affects the displacement efficiency in the process of crude oil exploitation but also troubles the efficient operation of the demulsification dehydration and sewage treatment process in the oilfield surface production system. − However, the existing experimental studies are mostly based on characterizing the interfacial properties of surfactants through the interfacial tension test, which makes accurately describing their structure, adsorption behavior, and film thickness at the oil–water interface impossible. , …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate Concentration on the Stability of the Crude Oil–Mineral Water Interfacial Film: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

Wang

Han

et al. 2022

Energy Fuels

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The interfacial behavior of surfactants exerts a considerable impact on the chemical flooding-produced liquid treatment project. For circumventing the limitations of model simplification and single-factor simulation of previous molecular dynamics (MD) studies, this paper based on the experimental results of crude oil-phase and water-phase composition constructed different simulation systems of “crude oil/SDBS/mineral water” considering the concentration of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS). The impact of SDBS concentration on the stability of the crude oil–mineral water interfacial film was explored, and the simulation results were verified by comparing with the simulation system of “crude oil/SDBS/pure water” and interfacial tension experiments. The simulated results showed that the SDBS molecules in the system exist in the form of a monolayer film after dynamic relaxation equilibrium, and with the increase in concentration, the number of SDBS molecules per unit area of the film increases, and the molecular chain bending characteristics are weakened. The order of the effect of inorganic cations on the aggregation degree of SDBS is Ca2+ > Na+ > K+ > Mg2+. When the concentration of SDBS increased from 0.15 to 0.70 mol/L, the total oil water interfacial film thickness increased from 1.433 nm in the crude oil/SDBS/mineral water system and 1.272 nm in the crude oil/SDBS/pure water system to 2.125 nm in the crude oil/SDBS/mineral water system and 2.398 nm in the crude oil/SDBS/pure water system. The absolute value of interface formation energy increased from 1223.59 and 1236.32 to 2739.19 and 3033.64, respectively, which are also basically consistent with the experimental results of interface tension. Furthermore, inorganic ions will weaken the performance of the surfactant SDBS and detrimentally affect the structural strength and stability of interfacial films. These results offer useful insights into the stabilization mechanism of oil–water emulsions. In particular, they provide a basis for the design and optimization of new pathways for oil–water emulsion instability in oilfield development.

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“…Although the transition to a green and low-carbon energy structure has become a global consensus, crude oil will continue to play an indispensable role in the carbon neutral process as core energy for national strategy and development. − Waxy crude oil consists of a complex mixture of various organic compounds, including waxes (saturated alkanes or n -alkanes), aromatics, isoalkanes, resins, and asphaltenes. It is distributed in most oil fields in various countries and even accounts for 90% of the total oil production in China. − Asphaltenes, an essential component of crude oil, are a series of disordered organic macromolecules, which are high in polarity and molecular weight, and aggregate very easily. − At high temperatures, waxes are dissolved in the crude oil in the molecular state, while asphaltenes are dispersed in the form of nanoparticles. During pipeline transportation, asphaltenes agglomerate into small particles as the external environment varies, and the long chain wax molecules precipitate out as wax crystals and deposit on the pipeline inner wall together with asphaltenes and other components, which weakens the flowability of the oil flow, reduces the effective flow area, and even causes the pipeline blockage. ,− However, the deposition processes of waxes and asphaltenes have previously been less investigated systematically, the crude oil was simply regarded as a system of waxes and other components, and the synergistic effect of waxes and asphaltenes in the deposition process was ignored. ,− …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of a Coated Wall on Wax–Asphaltene Molecule Diffusion, Aggregation, and Adhesion Mechanism: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

Wang

Liu

et al. 2022

Energy Fuels

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Coating is increasingly used as a cost-effective strategy for controlling heavy component deposition in waxy crude oil transportation flowlines. This paper systematically investigated the micro influence mechanism of the coated wall on the diffusion, aggregation, and adhesion behavior of wax–asphaltene molecules by the molecular dynamics (MD) method. A set of experiments was performed to determine the properties of the waxy crude oil. For overcoming the limitations of the model simplification of previous MD studies, the MD models based on experimental data were developed to characterize the motion behavior of wax–asphaltene molecules on non-coated and coated wall surfaces, and the simulated densities of crude oil components had an error of less than 5% with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) data, which showed that the established model was accurate and reliable. The simulation results showed that two condensate oil layers were formed on the non-coated wall surface, the diffusion and aggregation behavior of wax–asphaltene molecules were enhanced under the low-temperature condition, and there was considerably heavy component molecules adhesion to the non-coated wall surface. The analysis of mean square displacement, radial distribution function, and relative concentration distribution revealed that 288.15 K was the peak wax precipitation, which was consistent with the experimental conclusion. It was also found that the presence of low surface energy coating weakened the diffusion of heavy component molecules. The epoxy silicone-coated had the weakest interaction with wax–asphaltene molecules. Moreover, the fact that the coated wall had a certain inhibitory effect on the aggregation and adhesion of wax–asphaltene molecules in the pipeline was proven, where the epoxy silicone-coated had the strongest inhibitory effect. These investigations present new insights and guidance for controlling heavy component deposition by coating in the pipeline transportation process of waxy crude oil.

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Modeling of viscosity of unstable crude oil–water mixture by characterization of energy consumption and crude oil physical properties

Cited by 25 publications

References 52 publications

Modeling of the Phase Inversion Point of Crude Oil Emulsion by Characterization of Crude Oil Physical Properties

Modeling of the Phase Inversion Point of Crude Oil Emulsion by Characterization of Crude Oil Physical Properties

Impact of Sodium Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate Concentration on the Stability of the Crude Oil–Mineral Water Interfacial Film: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

Effect of a Coated Wall on Wax–Asphaltene Molecule Diffusion, Aggregation, and Adhesion Mechanism: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

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