Journal
FUEL
Volume 286, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2020.119390
Keywords
Emulsion breaker; Reverse emulsion breaker; Oil-in-water emulsions; Water-in-oil emulsions; Petroleum production
Categories
Funding
- Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA)
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- Future Energy Systems under the Canada First Research Excellence Fund
- Canada Research Chairs Program
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Emulsions frequently encountered in petroleum production pose technical challenges and increase costs. Chemical treatment with demulsifiers plays a vital role in destabilizing the complex emulsions, but developing effective and cost-efficient demulsifiers remains challenging. This review systematically examines the stabilization mechanisms of emulsions and categorizes demulsifiers for water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions, providing insights into efficient demulsification methods.
Emulsions frequently encountered in petroleum production, include water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions, oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions, and water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) emulsions, which considerably increase operation and production costs and cause technical challenges such as fouling and corrosion. Chemical treatment as a primary method has been extensively applied to destabilize the highly stable and complex emulsions. Demulsifiers play a vital role in demulsification efficiency of the chemical treatment, while developing effective and cost-efficient demulsifiers remains challenging due to complexity of the emulsions and poorly-understood demulsification mechanisms. This work systematically reviews the stabilization mechanisms of the complex emulsions, including the presence of interface-active species and their effects on the intermolecular and surface forces involved, properties of oil/water interface, and bulk properties of the emulsions. According to the different stabilization mechanisms of W/O emulsions and O/W emulsions, we subdivide demulsifiers into emulsion breakers (EBs) applied to demulsify W/O emulsions and reverse emulsion breakers (REBs) for O/W emulsions. The two types of demulsifiers are comprehensively reviewed and discussed, including types, influencing factors, demulsification mechanisms, and overdose effects. Our work provides useful insights into the fundamental stabilization and destabilization mechanisms of W/O emulsions and O/W emulsions and improves the understanding of efficient EBs and REBs and their applications in crude oil production and other related chemical and environmental engineering processes.y
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