Demulsification of water in heavy crude oil emulsion using a new amphiphilic ionic liquid based on the glycolysis of polyethylene terephthalate waste

A new amphiphilic ionic liquid (IL) was prepared based on the glycolysis product of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste. Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) produced from glycolysis of PET was converted into bis (2-chloroethyl) terephthalate (BCET). The glycidyl 4-nonylphenyl ether (GNE) was reacted with ethanol amine (EA) to form the corresponding amine, 1-((2-hydroxyethyl)amino)-3-(4-nonylphenoxy)propan-2-ol, (HANP) and the formed amine was then ethoxylated using tetraethylene glycol (TEG) to form ethoxylated amine (EHANP). The EHANP was quaternized by BCET to form the corresponding ionic liquid (EHANP-IL). Following the synthesis, the chemical structure was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-1 NMR). The surface activity and dynamic light scattering (DLS) properties were also investigated. Further, the demulsification efficiencies of synthesized IL and EHANP was evaluated and found that the EHANP-IL was able to demulsify water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions with high efficiency than that of respective EHANP. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.