Oil-Based Binding Resins: Peculiar Water-in-Oil Emulsion Breakers

Abstract

Asphaltenes are widely associated with the unwanted stability of water-in-crude oil (w/o) emulsions due to their inhibitory effect on water droplet coalescence. Here, we seek to prove that certain crude oil resins that can bind with asphaltenes, hereafter referred to as binding resins, are capable of solvating these asphaltenes such that the w/o emulsion destabilizes. W/o emulsions were formed using a variety of crude oils as well as model oils with varying amounts of resins and asphaltenes. A modified SARA fractionation technique was adopted to extract the required resins and asphaltenes. Emulsion stability was tracked over time both visually and via the use of pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance to quantify the emulsions’ water droplet size distributions. It was conclusively found that the binding resins significantly improved the demulsification rate of the emulsions formed using both crude oil and model oils. In the case of the model oils, this influence could only be attributed to the removal of the asphaltenes from the droplet surfaces by the binding resins; the effect was shown to be partially independent of the source of the binding resin. The use of this oil fraction subclass for emulsion destabilization shows great promise as a new flow assurance strategy by substituting costly synthetic chemical emulsion destabilizers with naturally occurring resins.

Impact of the Composition and Content of Dissolved-State Paraffins in Model Oil on the Aggregation State of Asphaltenes and the Stability of Water-in-Model Oil Emulsion

“…It is worth mentioning here that another component in crude oilresinshas a totally different effect on the state of asphaltenes and subsequent emulsion stability. According to the studies in the literature, , some resins in crude oil can bind with asphaltenes and solvate them, thus destabilizing the w/o emulsion formed by the asphaltenes.…”

Fluoropolymer: A Review on Its Emulsion Preparation and Wettability to Solid-Liquid Interface

“…Under the action of an emulsifier, the polymer particles can be dispersed evenly to form a stable emulsion. According to the dispersing medium, it can be divided into the water-based emulsion and oil-based emulsion [ 13 , 14 ]. Fluoropolymer has good thermal stability [ 15 ], good flame retarding [ 16 ], anti-oxidation [ 17 ], and anti-aging effect [ 18 ].…”

Solid-Phase Extraction Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (SPE-NMR): Prototype Design, Development, and Automation

“…For example, NMR is used in well logging to evaluate reservoir properties such as porosity and permeability as well as for fluid-typing. It is also applied in the laboratory for hydrate formation and oil field emulsions characterization, for example. − Proton ( 1 H) NMR can detect all compounds with hydrogen atoms in their structure and, as a result, can theoretically measure the total hydrocarbon contamination of produced water. Furthermore, NMR techniques are readily made self-calibrating through the inclusion of reference compounds, require no optical window, and allow for quantitative separate analysis of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbon content. , Conventional high-field NMR spectrometers (typically employing superconducting magnets) will provide both enhanced sensitivity and compound spectral resolution for such OiW monitoring.…”