Breaking of Water-in-Crude-Oil Emulsions. 2. Influence of Asphaltene Concentration and Diluent Nature on Demulsifier Action
Résumé
The stability of water-in-oil emulsions formed during oil slicks or petroleum production operations is ensured by natural surfactant molecules (principally asphaltenes) that are present in the crude oil. These persistent emulsions may be broken by adding a suitable demulsifier at the proper concentration to attain a so-called optimum formulation at which the stability of the emulsion is minimum. In this report, the concentration of asphaltenes is varied by diluting the crude oil with a solvent such as cyclohexane, toluene, or mixtures of them. The experimental evidence shows that there exists some critical asphaltene concentration at which the interfacial zone seems to be saturated. Beyond this threshold, which is typically around 1000 ppm of asphaltenes, the demulsifier concentration necessary to attain the emulsionʼs quickest breaking is constant. Below it, e.g. when the crude is highly diluted with a solvent, the optimum demulsifier concentration is found to be proportional to the asphaltene concentration. The map of emulsion stability versus asphaltene and demulsifier concentrations exhibits a typical pattern for different demulsifiers and diluents, which contributes to improving the interpretation of the demulsifying action.