Studying the Influence of Antifoaming Additives on Crude Oil/Air Interface: Proposal of a New Methodology

Abstract

Foams generated during oil production are complex systems. The complexity of their continuous phase makes it difficult to understand what occurs in the foam layers. Some studies have shown that the main species that stabilize foams are asphaltenes, because they reduce the surface tension of the bubbles with their interfacial activity, causing this surface to become viscoelastic. To understand surface viscoelasticity, it is necessary to investigate the rheology of the crude oil/air interface. Since the great majority of works published have used a Du Noüy ring or BiCone accessory to evaluate the surface only of model asphaltene systems, the aim of this work is to study the crude oil/air interface of different crude oil samples and different antifoaming products using the BiCone accessory.