Separation Emulsion via Non-Ionic Surfactant: An Optimization

Abstract

Achieving emulsion stability in the petroleum industry is a major challenge due to several problems encountered in the oil refining process, such as corrosion in equipment, high-pressure drops in pipelines, and catalyst poisoning in upstream facilities. Thus, several methods are applied for emulsion treatment and chemical treatment using surface-active agents, a fundamental method in the petroleum industry. The present work investigated the performance of a non-ionic surfactant in separating water in a crude oil emulsion via the bottle test technique. Then, a Fractional Factorial Design (2 K−1 ) was used to characterise the effect of significant variables. In particular, a Pareto chart was employed and factors such as demulsifier dosage, toluene concentration, pressure, sitting time, and temperature were investigated. Accordingly, the parameters applied were further analysed using a Central Composite Design (CCD) based on the Response Surface Method (RSM). The experimental results based on analysis of Variance (ANOVA) show that demulsifier dosage, temperature, and sedimentation times were the main variables affecting the dehydration process, with the highest F-values being 564.74, 94.53 and 78.65 respectively. The increase in the surfactant dosage before critical concentration, temperature and sitting time leads to boosting dehydration efficiency. In addition, a mathematical model was established for the variables, with a coefficient of determination value of 0.9688. Finally, numerical optimisation was performed on the variables and the results show that the optimal values are 1000 ppm, 15.5 mL, −400 mmHg, 120 min, and 90 • C, for demulsifier dosage, toluene concentration, pressure, sitting time, and temperature, respectively.

Investigation of the Base Oil Properties in Optimizing the Demulsification

“…Other than these variables, they are considered insignificant. Furthermore, raising the F-value of factors increases their effect on the response [30]. For example, water content with an F-value of 473.58 had the most significance on demulsification, whereas the volume of formulated surfactant with a value of 18.02 would have the least significance.…”

Application of a multiple criteria analysis for the selection of appropriate radical based processes in treatment of car wash wastewater

“…The t values of the bars represent the square root of the F values on the ANOVA. The coefficients that are the t-value of the effect on the Bonferroni line are strictly defined as significant coefficients, and the coefficients with the t-value of the effect between the Bonferroni line and the t-limit are defined as likely to be significant, and the coefficients below the t-limit line are determined statistically insignificant [49,50]. Fig.…”

Investigation of the synergistic effect of nonionic surfactants on emulsion resolution using response surface methodology

“…29,30 RSM also has been used to investigate the performance of nonionic emulsiers during emulsion stability and the capability to break emulsions. [31][32][33] Furthermore, several studies were reported on using Central Composite Design (CCD) for modelling the stability of the crude oil emulsion. 31,[33][34][35] There is an extensive approach to emulsions treatment to ensure the protability of the industry.…”