Demulsification by amphiphilic dendrimer copolymers

Amphiphilic block copolymers with dendrimer structures were synthesized by anion polymerization and these dendritic macromolecules exhibited excellent demulsification performance for crude oil emulsion. According to the demulsification experiments, we determined that the copolymers became more efficient with more complex molecular structure due to increased penetrability. The physical model of demulsification intelligibly explained the micromechanism of flocculation and coalescence of water drops in emulsion because of the good adsorption and displacement behaviors of dendrimers. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.