Rheological behavior on treated Malaysian crude oil

Demulsifier: An Important Agent in Breaking Crude Oil Emulsions

“…Thus, at maximum temperature with no resistance, the surfactant can be directly absorbed into the continuous phase. Generally, hydrophobic demulsifiers can only be formulated in organic solvents, such as dioxane, xylene, and toluene, or in co‐solvents consisting of water and organic solvents, where the organic solvent can be made up of ethanolamines, ethylenediamine, and diethylenetriamine 53.…”

“…The main general types of demulsifiers utilized in petroleum companies could either be O/W or W/O. The major basic four types of surfactant species include polyhydric alcohol, alcohol, polymers, and amines 53. The demulsifiers are grouped based on their surfactant species, as illustrated in Tab.…”

“…Based on the investigation by Nuraini et al 58, oil‐soluble demulsifiers could be seen as the best kind of demulsifier for W/O emulsions. Amines are found to be strongly surface‐active and capable of directly absorbing from a dispersed water phase into a continuous water phase 53. However, the major demerit of the amine type of demulsifiers is that they can change the salinity or pH of the aqueous phase of the emulsion.…”

“…The demulsifiers possess the proper affinity and capacity to detect the interfacial area of the O/W emulsion. Despite its swift activity, a complete demulsifier formulation requires achieving 80 % water separation efficiency, with a clear and sharp interface, and the separated water phase should be seen by the naked eyes 53.…”

“…The polymer type of demulsifiers can provide a sharp interface, clear water, and dry oil 53. Besides, it can produce an excellent performance at lower temperatures and in heavy crude oil because the polymeric molecules have a higher molecular weight, which is able to flocculate the wide range of sub‐micron‐size water droplets distributed within the crude oil 37.…”