Physico-chemical properties of heavy crude oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by mixtures of ionic and non-ionic ethoxylated nonylphenol surfactants and medium chain alcohols

This work describes the formulation and evaluation of concentrated, heavy oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by mixtures of ethoxylated surfactants and normal alcohols. The rheology, stability and droplet size of these emulsions were investigated as functions of the emulsification process parameters. The parameters investigated for this study include emulsifier agent composition, presence of additives, pH and salinity of the continuous aqueous phase, emulsification temperature, oil content and emulsion aging. The produced emulsions had viscosities ranging from 30 to 150 mPa s and represent a 30-fold reduction of the crude oil viscosity. Sauter mean diameters of the droplets ranged from 10 to 50 mu m. The emulsions were produced by mixing the oil with an aqueous solution containing medium normal-chain alcohols and small quantities of a mixture of ethoxylated nonylphenol and ethoxylated amine surfactants. The presence of these alcohols led to a sharp decrease in the droplet size of the emulsion. This size decrease had a direct impact on the emulsions' stability and apparent viscosity. The rheological parameters of the aged emulsions were also essentially constant over a 42-day period. (C) 2010 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.