Experimental and modeling approach to study separation of water in crude oil emulsion under non-uniform electrical field

In many ways, the use of high electrostatic fields in the separation of water-in-oil emulsions is a mature technology, with most developments arising from attempts to improve the process of crude oils, in terms of the separation of water, salt or other hydrophilic impurities. In this way, different mechanisms have been proposed until now and several parameters have been studied to estimate the level of separation. In this work, after a review of the process and its application, new results are presented for AC currents under non-uniform electrical fields (dielectrophoresis) on the water-in-crude oil emulsion. Then the effects of voltage, temperature, volume fraction and API are studied on degree of separation. Finally, a correlation is presented among these parameters by an experimental model.