Development of More Environmentally Friendly Demulsifiers

Abstract

Formation damage caused by water-in-crude oil emulsions can have a big impact on oil production. Chemical treatment is often applied by injecting surfactants known as demulsifiers to break the water-in-crude oil emulsions. Common demulsifiers used in the oilfield industry often contain chemicals that are deemed environmentally unacceptable. With the increasingly stringent environmental and safety measures for oilfield chemicals, there is a significant drive to develop more environmentally friendly formulations for oilfield applications that are as efficient as existing chemicals. In this work, more environmentally friendly demulsifiers have been developed by systematically upgrading existing components in a conventional demulsifier with more environmentally acceptable components. The environmental impact of existing and upgraded formulations was evaluated using industry developed product rating systems. Demulsification tests were then carried out to assess the performance of the newly developed formulations on several problematic oils.

Effect of Emulsion Breakers on Interfacial Tension Behavior of Heavy Oil–Water Systems

“…To accurately conduct compressibility measurements using an oil-soluble EB injected into the aqueous phase, co-solvents were employed for reasons touched upon in the Experimental Section. Glycol ethers are characterized by their excellent solvency, chemical stability, and compatibility with water and a number of organic solvents; therefore, they function as mutual solvents for many water/organic systems. , EGMBE–water mixtures exhibit a phase diagram with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) . On the basis of this phase diagram, contents of EGMBE below 10% are used.…”

Studi Laboratorium Pembuatan Demulsifier dari Minyak Kelapa dan Lemon untuk Minyak Kelapa dan Lemon untuk Minyak Bumi pada Lapangan x di Provinsi Riau

“…Penggunaan demulsifier bahan kimia harus memikirkan dampak yang akan terjadi di lingkungan. Seiring dengan menguatnya standar keamanan dalam dunia migas, maka dibutuhkan suatu formulasi demulsifier yaitu dengan melakukan pengembangan demulsifier dari bahan lokal yang dapat diaplikasikan di lapangan (Zhou, Dismuke, Lett, & Penny, 2012).…”

The Use of Sodium Polyacrylate for Oil-Water Demulsification Process

“…During the immigration process, water and oil from the pores of the reservoir rock can form an emulsion because the oil contains natural surfactants in the form of asphaltene, resin, naphthenic acid, porphyrin amines, micro-crystals of paraffin, clay, and sand, with an average concentration of asphaltene interface of 3 -70%, resin 7 -55% and paraffin 20 -90%. Some polar substances include naphthenic acid and porphyrin amines, while non-polar substances such as asphaltene, resins, and other solids serve as emulsion stabilizers [1][2]. In addition, emulsions contain salts such as NaCl, KCL, MgCl2, and CaCl2, which can trigger corrosion of equipment in the oil field [3].…”

“…Generally, the demulsifier process used is a chemical method. The chemical that usually disperses water is a surfactant; besides that, there are solvents such as xylene, toluene, cosolvents such as methanol and Ethylene Glycol Mono Butyl Ether (EGMBE), which are often used for demulsifier formulations [2][3]. However, the use of chemical solutions such as surfactants is quite expensive.…”