Effect of Agitated Turbulence on Demulsification of Crude Oil Emulsions in Production Separator

Water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion is a common production operation problem faced by well operators in the oil and gas industry. The presence of water in oil will induce corrosion, leaching of additives, raise in conductivity and occupy space in the pipeline and separator ineffectively. Emulsion are formed when oil and water are produced along under great amount of agitation or turbulence. Agitation or turbulence is needed for crude oil emulsion to form, but if the agitation could be controlled, it may help in de-emulsifying. The agitation or turbulence have to be kept at average to achieve a good coalescing conditions. However, excessive agitation or turbulence may result intense emulsification and retard the water droplet settling. Therefore, range of agitated turbulence, operating temperature and emulsion treatment duration have to be assessed to study the stability behaviour of crude oil emulsion. Twelve emulsion samples were prepared with water-to-oil ratio of (30:70) and treated with varying parameters that includes the agitation speed, operating temperature and emulsion treatment duration.