An emulsion is the mixture of two immiscible fluids, where one fluid appears as droplets within another. In the oil and gas industry, produced crude oil generally comes with an appreciable amount of water within it in an emulsified form. Before produced crude oil can be prepared for purchase, the water associated with it must be removed. A process known as demulsification is required in order to separate an emulsion into its two phases. In the industry, a number of demulsification techniques are already present; these include thermal, mechanical, chemical, and electrical techniques.Crude oil and gas produced from wells originally come with water, salts, and volatile gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and sometimes hydrogen sulfide, etc. Hence, the petroleum mixture needs to be refined-water, salt, and non-hydrocarbon gases to be separated from the mixture, in order to meet certain oil and gas specifications (which state the maximum concentrations of such contaminants) and make it ready for purchase and transportation.Sonication provides a cheap, simple, and harmless (as it involves mainly the propagation of sound waves) way of separating crude oils from water droplets via demulsification. In addition, if needed, it can be used for emulsification processes as well. Hence, a study of sonification as a way for crude refinement or chemical mixing has important implications for the oil and gas. This investigation proposes the use of ultrasonication as a new and cost-effective technique to aid in the demulsification of crude oil emulsion. The effectiveness of this technique was gauged through its comparison to the already present methods in the industry. Based on the investigation it was found that centrifuge served as the best demulsification method for it reduced the turbidity by 86%. In addition, the reduced turbidity achieved with proposed ultrasonication method ranges from 20%-60%.
This data article presents the measured viscosity of a carbon nanotube (CNT) suspension in water-based drilling mud, also termed as nano-muds (“Rheology of a colloidal suspension of carbon nanotube particles in a water-based drilling fluid” Anoop et al., 2019). The apparent viscosity values of the nano-mud samples are measured using a high-pressure high-temperature viscometer at different shear rates, working based on a rotor and bob technique. The pressure and temperature of the samples are independently varied during the measurements from ambient conditions to 171 MPa and 176 °C, respectively, within two experimental schedules. Viscosity measurements for varying nanoparticle concentration, shear rate, pressure, and temperature are reported here for different CNT concentrations.
Asphaltenes deposition is one of the common problems encountered in the petroleum industry as it clogs the area near the wellbore, builds up in the well tubing, and precipitates inside separators and other surface facilities. Thus, it restricts the flow of the fluids from the formation to the wellbore and to the surface and, hence, leads to production loss. The remedial measures for asphaltenes deposition, however, cost money and time.
The aim of the study presented in this paper was to experimentally investigate the role of ultrasonic wave technology as an asphaltenes flocculation inhibitor and to quantify the actual reduction in asphaltenes content of the crude oil when ultrasonic waves were applied. For these purposes, sonication experiments, viscosity measurements, and asphaltenes extraction experiments were performed. Moreover, this study aimed to verify the results and the conclusions that were achieved in a previous similar work by repeating some of the methods they used with different crude oil sample.
Conducting this experimental study led to the conclusions that ultrasonic waves have the ability to break down asphaltenes conglomerates and, hence, reduce asphaltenes content in crude oil samples and that there is an optimum time for sonication at which highest asphaltenes particles disintegration is achieved. Moreover, it was concluded that the crude oil viscosity is influenced by its asphaltenes content.
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