Water in oil emulsions

Water in oil emulsions are difficult to separate bo

th by gravity force (tank settling) and enhanced gravity force (centrifugal separation). To understand the mechanism, it is essen

tial to understand the formation of emulsions from a surface chemical point of view. It is a well known fact that pure oil easily separates from water, so why are certain types of blends of oil and water forming emulsions difficult to handle with G-force?

To understand this, we need to look more closely into the ethnology of emulsion formation.

Why emulsions?

Crude and refined oils (RFO/HFO) often contain soli

d contaminants such as iron sulphides, clays, silts, paraffin’s, asphaltenes, organic acids etc. With the presence of water, these contaminants will attract to the high interfacial tension between the water droplets and the surrounding oil. Due to this fact i.e., coated water droplets, coalescence between droplets forming bigger droplets will be sterically hindered.

To make matters even worse the emulsions are made stronger and more emulsified by shear forces and pressure variances in process equipment such as pumps, valves etc. The emulsions can be made so strong that the natural separation of the oil and water is virtually nonexistent.

Action of ET-Products

The ET-products are complex blends of surface active polymers and surfactant components. The action of the Emulsion Treatment is to speed up water droplet coalescence by:

• Removing the surface layer of contaminants preventing sterically hindered coalescence between water droplets.
• Bring well dispersed water droplets closer together by flocculation.
• Decrease surface tension between the water droplets to speed up coalescence and formation of bigger droplets thus increasing the speed of separation.

Orginal emulsion                             Agglomeration                                 Flockulation

Figure 1: Microscope picture of the demulsification process.

Environmental friendly solvents

For our ET series of products we have chosen polymers and surfactants that possess the unique properties of being water soluble at ambient temperatures but becoming oil soluble at elevated temperatures, starting from 50 degrees C. The products have an optimal performance at elevated temperatures but start working from ambient conditions.

For increased low temperature efficiency a variety of solvents can be used such as alcohols giving the products an environmentally friendly profile compared with conventional aromatic solvents.

Unique properties of Lucent Oil ET products

Comparative tests carried out in China, Pakistan and Korea versus conventional products has shown:

• Lucent Oil products, due to compositions with unique polymers, achieve a cleaner water cut compared to competitor products (Figure 2).
• The standard selection of solvent makes the products harmless for operators to handle.
• Lucent Oil can supply “Concentrates” to be diluted with water or organic solvent on site resulting in reduced transportation costs.

Left:
Water Phase Competitor 1 demulsifier


Middle:
Water Phase Competitor 2 demulsifier


Right:
Water Phase ET demulsifier

Figure 2: Comparison between water phase between Lucent Oil and competitors.

Products

Lucent Oil’s product range of Emulsion Treatments covers a variety of applications and requirements. The following list shows the standard products for general usage. Special products can be formulated for unique requirements.

Product features and application areas

• Dehydration, water removal
• Waste oil treatment
• Marine slop and sludge treatment
• Crude oil production
• Oil lagoon recovery
• Desalination, removal of salt
• Residual crude oil treatment
• Fuel oil treatment

Oil Analysis

Contact us for more information about our chemical products. We test and analyze customer samples to be able to provide solutions specifically tailored to their needs.