Characterization Of Crude Oil Emulsion

Crude oil emulsification happens at all stages of crude oil production and processing creating operational problems such as pressure drops in flow lines, corrosion, catalyst poisoning, increase in demulsifier usage and trips in crude oil handling facilities. In order to demulsify the crude oil aptly in-depth analysis of the characteristics of the crude oil is inevitable. This report presents the findings of a series of experiments performed to analyze the oil/ water separation in the presence of varying amounts and types of brine and emulsifiers respectively by using crude oil /water ratios of 70/30, 80/20 and 90/10. The results show the existence of an optimal salinity at which full or partial separation can be achieved without utilizing demulsifiers which can reduce considerable amounts of costs in terms of demulsifiers and other techniques for separation