DEVELOPMENT, CHARACTERIZATION, APPLICATION OF GREEN DEMULSIFIERS FOR EMULSION MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT

The present day oil production contains water as one of main unavoidable associate or byproduct. Nearly 90% of crude contains oil/water emulsions. The gradual entry of water in to oil-bearing formations and the arrival of secondary and tertiary recovery methods have led to the development of new technologies that can be used to break crude oil and water emulsions. The need to develop a cost effective and efficient demulsifier in treating crude oil emulsions without compromising quality and environmental safety is a major concern to the oil industry worldwide. Hence, this study aims at the Development, characterization,  application of green demulsifiers for emulsion management.  The effect of modifier (ether, ethylacetate, ethylene glycol, ethanol and buthanol) was determined using  bottle test and centrifuge methods was conducted at 70⁰C for 300 seconds.  same methods. The optimum concentrations in g/ml for combination of oil and water-soluble demulsifier was determined using prediction profiler plot.

 

 

DEVELOPMENT, CHARACTERIZATION, APPLICATION OF GREEN DEMULSIFIERS FOR EMULSION MANAGEMENT

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 

1.1 Background to the study

An emulsion is a mixture of two liquids that are not normally able to mix together, or that are immiscible. Emulsion is a two-phase system comprising of two liquids not forming homogenous when mixed, one is (dispersed phase) constantly dispersed as globules in the second phase (continuous phase) (Mohyaldinn et al. 2018). It is obvious that an emulsion forms during the removal and transportation of crude oil. When a heterogeneous mixture is subjected to turbulence under high pressure or temperature while flowing through porous rocks and pipework, the formation takes place. The main factors that facilitated the emulsion’s development are the presence of surface-active substances, ionic compositions, and water pH (Sjöblom 2001).

Oil-in-water emulsions at several phases of the production and processing of crude oils, stability is always encountered. The presence of resins and asphaltenes, which serve as the primary “natural emulsifiers,” as well as wax and other particles that accompany the crude, is what invariably or mostly results in the creation of these emulsions. At the oil/water interface, these components can organise and create stiff films. To ensure the quality of the crude oil and the affordability of oil production, effective water and oil separation is crucial. The most significant phase in dissolving water-in-crude oil emulsions is chemical demulsification. These emulsions can be broken down using a variety of methods, but the most popular is the addition of modest amounts of demulsifiers. These compounds that are surface-active adsorb at the oil-water interface and quicken phase separation (Krittika et al, 2014). No matter the production technology, separating generated crude from water and fundamental sediments is one of the most important components of petroleum extraction. Your ability to do so profitably is a requirement. Nevertheless, it is equally crucial to handle produced water in a cost-effective and environmentally responsible manner. Separating water and other extraneous substances from the petroleum that is produced is the main goal of each oil production facility. The breakdown of these crude oil and water emulsions is one of the difficult issues facing the petroleum industry today (Laurrier, 1992).

One of the biggest inevitable associates or byproducts of modern oil production is water. Emulsions of oil and water make up almost 90% of crude. New technologies that can be utilised to dissolve crude oil and water emulsions have been developed as a result of the gradual entry of water into oil-bearing formations and the introduction of secondary and tertiary recovery techniques. The breaking of water-in-petroleum emulsions is still not fully understood, particularly in terms of the role of the added chemical demulsifiers, and further study is still needed. Investigations and confidence results have revealed this, but more work is still needed (Miguel et al., 2006). Demulsifier performance must be increased as a result, both from an application and environmental standpoint. The most recent formulations must be less harmful and at least as effective as the traditional chemical families. The most common form of crude oil production is as a water-in-oil emulsion, and to remove the water (down to a level of 0.5%), a process known as demulsification or dehydration must be used. This process entails forcing the coalescence of water droplets and producing their separation by settling (Miguel et al., 2006).

 

Demulsifiers are used as process aids to effectively separate the water from water-in-oil emulsion. Synthetic surfactants (Demulsifiers), which are introduced to water-in-oil emulsions, are used in the operations that break these emulsions. The purpose of the demulsifiers is to de-emulsify and prevent re-emulsification by removing the protective coating that the emulsifying agent forms on the surface of the water droplets. Emulsion is injected with and combined with the demulsifying agent. Water is then separated from the oil via sedimentation (Koshelev et al., 2000). Dehydrating a water-in-oil emulsion correctly is crucial because failing to do so will lead to the following problems:

 

1. Cost of pumping will increase
2. There will be high pressure drop in flow line
3. Corrosion of downstream processing equipment.
4. Demulsifiers are typically polymeric and interfacial active. Demulsifiers may have the following disadvantages;
5. Most are specifically designed to treat particular crude and may not be effective in treating other crude oil emulsion.
6. Many  are  toxic  to  the  environment,  traces  of  which  are  left  behind  in  the discarded water residue
7. Many  requires  huge  amount  of  mixing  energy  and  thus  take  a  long  time  to accomplish the separation of water from the crude
8. Incomplete water removal from the emulsion, leaving the problem of environmentally disposing of oil-containing effluent water at sea.

The petroleum sector faces a significant technical barrier when trying to separate the water-in-crude emulsion. Using a good demulsifier during the demulsification process can reduce operating costs by millions of Naira annually (Loumer, 1992). Oil industry-wide emulsion breaking procedures are improved by the use of chemical demulsifier formulations. In order to stabilise the emulsion, the demulsifier works. This requires that the natural emulsion or surfactant system’s ordered structure be disturbed in order to facilitate the approach of the dispersed droplets. Surfactant behaviour (oil/water interface), the capacity to cause drops of dispersed phase to coalesce, the capacity to cause wettability of solids, and the capacity to flocculate dispersed phase drops are all influenced by the presence of a demulsifier.

Making a green demulsifier makes sense since, in addition to being non-toxic to the environment, it also requires less money to produce because it is a biodegradable agent, or at the very least lowers the cost of cleanup and disposal of trash that contains it. In light of the potential for large cost reductions, the aim to develop “environmentally friendly” chemicals is a positive step (Christine and Christine, 2001).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

When producing and processing crude oils, stable water-in-oil emulsions can emerge at various stages. These emulsions were created due to the presence of wax, solids, and asphalthenes, which act as “natural demulsifiers” in addition to resin and asphalthenes. At the oil/water interfaces, all of these parts can arrange themselves to form a hard film. Effective separation of water and oil is crucial for maintaining the quality of the crude oil and ensuring low production costs. The key stage in demulsifying water-in-oil emulsions is chemical demulsification. The majority of conventional demulsifiers are polymeric surfactants like polypropylene, copolymers, polyoxyethelene, or mixtures of other surface-active chemicals. Due to increasingly stringent environmental restrictions, it is necessary to limit the use of chemicals in oil production and to adopt safer formulations that are less toxic but at least as effective and serve the same purpose as traditional demulsifiers.

Chemical method, which is mostly used in demulsification can be of threat to all the living organism in the environment where crude demulsification is being perform ( i.e. in the refinery or oil producing field ) because most of the chemicals used for crude oil emulsion breaking, such as phenol group are toxic. To avoid these toxic or environmental non-friendly emulsion breaking chemicals, other non-toxic crude emulsion breaker called “green demulsifier” have to be prepared. This is the main purpose of this work.

1.3 Objective of the Study

The objectives of this work are as follows:

• To determine physical properties of the substance that will be used as the demulsifier component.
• To evaluate their demulsification potential when combined
• Determination of the API of the given crude oil emulsion
• Determination of water/oil separation from emulsions using bottle test and centrifugal method.

1.4 Significance of the Work

This work will focus on development, characterization,  application of green demulsifiers for emulsion management. The scope of the work will be on finding natural chemicals to replace toxic chemicals used as crude demulsifier, in crude demulsification or emulsion breaking process. If we succeed in obtaining a natural product as a demulsifier, it therefore means that in the course of solving emulsion problem, we would not be creating another problem; in environmental and health.

 

1.5 Scope of the Work

This study focus on the development, characterization,  application of green demulsifiers for emulsion management. The scope of this work will require buying the natural chemical substances, obtaining fresh crude oil emulsion from any nearby flow station, and conducting demulsifier bottle test of the natural chemicals in a laboratory. In order to complete this research, the author required to have a solid understanding of the terms “green” demulsifier, “green” emulsifier, synthetic emulsifier, and blend emulsifier. There are multiple phases involved in creating the water-in-oil emulsion needed for this project. However, it is crucial to fully comprehend how the demulsifier functions when added to a water-in-oil emulsion.

DEVELOPMENT, CHARACTERIZATION, APPLICATION OF GREEN DEMULSIFIERS FOR EMULSION MANAGEMENT

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