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Theoretical Interpretation of pH and Salinity Effect on Oil in Water Emulsion Stability Based on Interfacial Chemistry and Implications for Produced Water Demulsification
Miadonye, A.; Amadu, M. Theoretical Interpretation of pH and Salinity Effect on Oil-in-Water Emulsion Stability Based on Interfacial Chemistry and Implications for Produced Water Demulsification. Processes2023, 11, 2470.
Miadonye, A.; Amadu, M. Theoretical Interpretation of pH and Salinity Effect on Oil-in-Water Emulsion Stability Based on Interfacial Chemistry and Implications for Produced Water Demulsification. Processes 2023, 11, 2470.
Miadonye, A.; Amadu, M. Theoretical Interpretation of pH and Salinity Effect on Oil-in-Water Emulsion Stability Based on Interfacial Chemistry and Implications for Produced Water Demulsification. Processes2023, 11, 2470.
Miadonye, A.; Amadu, M. Theoretical Interpretation of pH and Salinity Effect on Oil-in-Water Emulsion Stability Based on Interfacial Chemistry and Implications for Produced Water Demulsification. Processes 2023, 11, 2470.
Abstract
The petroleum industry produces thousands of barrels of oilfield waters from the initial stage driven by primary production mechanisms to the tertiary stage. These produced waters contain measurable amounts of oil in water emulsions, the exact amounts being determined by the chemistry of the crude oil. To meet strict environmental regulations governing the disposal of such produced waters, demulsification to regulatory permissible levels is required. Within the electric double layer theory, coupled with the analytical solutions to the Poisson Boltzmann Equation, continuum electrostatics approaches can be used to describe the static and electrokinetic properties of such emulsion systems. Therefore, theoretical understanding of the stability of oil in water emulsions within such fundamental concepts provides reliable approaches to demulsification. In this paper, we have used theoretical approaches, based on zeta potential and surface charge density models to determine the stability of oil in water emulsions for different crude oil samples. Accordingly, we have used literature based data on the chemistry of the crude oils, and have ranked the order of emulsion stability based on criterial established by zeta potential plots for the oil. Our theoretical calculations show that where the isoelectric points of crude oil samples are closer to each other, the degree of ionization plots versus pH indicate close tends for salinities at varying pH of oilfield waters. Based on the chemistry of crude oil samples, the most efficient and cost-effective means of demulsification is by reducing produced water pH to values closer to the average point of zero charge pH values
Keywords
Surface charge density; oil in water emulsion; salinity; degree of ionization; asphaltenes; produce water
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Waste Management and Disposal
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
