(2014) Investigation into the mechanisms by which microwave heating enhances separation of water-in-oil emulsions. Fuel, 116 . pp. 516-521. ISSN 1873-7153 Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31942/1/130726_Manuscript%20revised_for%20archiving.pdf Copyright and reuse:The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. This article is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives licence and may be reused according to the conditions of the licence. For more details see: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. ABSTRACTThe separation of water-in-oil emulsions made with Azeri crude was investigated using natural gravity settling and microwave heating techniques. Separation times could be reduced by an order of magnitude compared with untreated emulsions.Increasing the salinity of the water phase leads to a 15% average decrease in the settling time for untreated emulsions compared with over 90% for microwave-heatedemulsions. An image analysis technique showed that the observed increases in settling time could not be attributed to changes in viscosity alone. Significant coalescence of water droplets occurs during microwave heating, however the effects of coalescence and viscosity reduction cannot be completely decoupled. Despite this, it is clear that it is the thermal effect of microwave heating that leads to improvements in settling times, and that any advantages in microwave heating over conventional heating can Page 2 of 25 be explained by selective heating of the aqueous phase rather than so-called nonthermal effects. KEYWORDSWater-in-oil emulsion; microwave; coalescence; viscosity; interfacial tension; selective heating INTRODUCTIONEmulsions arise during the production of oil downstream from the well. Water is present with the oil, particularly in the latter stages of the well life when water injection is used to enhance the production rate. On leaving the well the mixture, at high pressure, is let down through a choke valve so that it can be further processed at moderate pressures. The pressure reduction valve creates significant shear within the fluid and it is this pressure drop that causes the emulsions to form. The water must be separated before further downstream transport and processing can commence, and as the oil and water phases are immiscible gravity separation can be utilised to separate the two substances. Gravity separation occurs due to a density difference between oil and water, and the separation of the two phases is governed by the settling velocity, u S . If u S is small then...
The use of compressive crushing plant such as gyratory crushers within minerals processing operations can generate large quantities of dust as large volumes of ore are tipped into the crusher feed bins. Methods to reduce these dust emissions include the retrofitting of shrouds, enclosures, local exhaust ventilation (LEV) systems and water suppression systems. The operation of these ancillary systems should be optimised to offer maximum performance. It is desirable that the future planning of such facilities include sufficient dust suppression and/or removal systems to ensure that material delivery rates are maintained and the welfare of the workforce is protected. This paper presents the results of an investigation of the tipping process through the application of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) methods and validation using data obtained from scale experiment. A 3-D computational model has been constructed using the Fluent™
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.