Breaking of Water-in-Crude Oil Emulsions. 8. Demulsifier Performance at Optimum Formulation Is Significantly Improved by a Small Aromatic Content of the Oil
2019
Alvarado, José G. | Delgado-Linares, José G. | Forgiarini, Ana M. | Salager, Jean Louis
Asphaltenes tend to aggregate in different structures depending on the aromatic content of the oil phase. The different aggregates adsorb at the interface as some kind of lipophilic surfactant, which tends to stabilize water-in-oil emulsions. Hydrophilic demulsifier molecules are added to combine with asphaltenes until the optimum formulation is attained at HLD = 0, thus resulting in the emulsion instability. It is found that with the change of asphaltenic aggregate structure produced by the aromatic content of the oil, its surfactant-like effect at the interface is also altered. The performance of dehydration is significantly improved with only 5% of aromatic additive in the oil phase.
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