“…High or low pH could be expected to increase not only the deprotonation or protonation of acid and base groups, respectively, at the oil interface but also their site densities due to preferential migration from the oil bulk to the surface and reorientation there. Further, surprisingly large negative at high pH are observed for a wide range of nonpolar phases (air, oils and hydrophobic polymers) in 1:1 electrolytes [35,66,67]. Preferential adsorption of hydroxide ions is believed to be the cause, and may operate at crude oil interfaces, reinforced by hydroxide affinity for acidic groups on asphaltenes and resins.…”