Mechanism of Crude-Oil/Water Interface

Destabilization by Silicone Demulsifiers

C. Dalmazzone, SPE, and C. Nok, SPE, Inst. Franais du Ptrole,
and L. Komunjer, U. de Technologie de Compigne
Summary
Oil exploitation is always accompanied by the nondesired forma-
tion of emulsions caused by the presence of naturally occurring
surface-active molecules such as asphaltenes and resins. Because
their presence stabilizes the oil/water interface, it is necessary to
break the emulsions by adding other surface-active molecules.
Formulations based on polysiloxane molecules were selected as
effective nontoxic products to enhance the oil/water phase sepa-
ration. Establishing the relation between the efficiency of formu-
lations and the interfacial properties of silicone molecules is the
objective of this study. Formulation selection is based on bottle
tests using turbidimetric measurements and on dynamic tests using
a dispersion rig setup that allows the formation of emulsions
under pressure and temperature conditions and injection of addi-
tives into the formed emulsion online. Rapid kinetics of separation
and high levels of separated water were observed. Dynamic inter-
facial measurements were performed using complementary tech-
niques. The drop-volume technique allows the measurement of the
evolution of crude-oil/water interfacial tension with time. The
Langmuir trough technique is used to obtain 2D compression iso-
therms and to deduce the elastic properties of interfaces. The co-
alescence of water droplets leading to the destabilization of emul-
sions and consequently to the oil/water separation efficiency can
be related to the rheological properties of water/crude-oil interface.
Therefore, such comprehensive study based on a specific method-
ology can lead to a strict and effective selection of emulsion
breaker additives in relation with the oil composition.
Introduction
As crude oil is always produced with water, many problems occur
during oil production because of the formation of emulsions.
1
Most common emulsions in the oil field are water-in-crude-oil
emulsions. Their formation is mainly caused by high shear rates
and zones of turbulence encountered at different points of produc-
tion facilities, especially at the wellhead in the choke valve.
2
These
emulsions can be very stable due to the presence of polar com-
pounds such as aphaltenes and resins that play the role of natural
emulsifiers and also because of the occurrence of many types of
fine solids (e.g., crystallized waxes, clays, and scales)
36
that
strongly participate in the formation of resistant films at the crude-
oil/water interface.
7,8
Effective separation of crude oil and water is an essential op-
eration in order to ensure not only the quality of crude oil but also
the quality of the separated water phase at the lowest cost. Crude-
oil dehydration is generally performed in separators by classical
physical treatments such as heating or electrocoalescence.
1
Unfor-
tunately, these physical means are generally not sufficient to re-
spect required times of residence, especially in offshore produc-
tion, and chemical additives have to be added in order to disrupt
the interfacial film and enhance and speed up emulsion breaking.
Chemical demulsification appears, therefore, to be an essential
step in crude-oil dehydration.
9
Demulsifiers are generally polymeric surfactants (e.g., copoly-
mers ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, polymeric chain of EO/PO
of alcohols, ethoxylated phenols, nonylphenols, alcohols, amines,
resins, and sulphonic acid salts). Commercial demulsifiers are
formulated in solvents such as short-chain alcohols, aromatics,
or heavy aromatic naphtha and can contain a mixture of several
active matters.
10,11
It is believed that most of these products are not safe from an
environmental point of view, even if their toxicity or mutagenic
effects have not been clearly demonstrated from a scientific point
of view. The increase of environmental constraints makes neces-
sary, therefore, the development of safer formulations in order to
replace toxic chemicals such as aromatics or nonylphenols.
In a previous study,
12
a large screening of commercial demul-
sifiers was performed by classical bottle tests in the laboratory.
Then, nontoxic polysiloxane surfactants were selected. These mol-
ecules were tested here on two types of crude oil in order to
characterize their efficiency and to select high-performance
blends. Best products were also tested in a dynamic dispersion rig
that allows reconstituting crude-oil emulsions in more realistic
conditions under temperature and pressure. Finally, dynamic in-
terfacial measurements were performed with the Langmuir trough
and the drop-volume techniques in order to determine the dynamic
and viscoelastic properties of the crude-oil/water interface in the
presence of these types of demulsifiers.
The objective of this work was not only to define a rigorous
methodology in order to develop efficient and safe formula-
tions under static and dynamic conditions, but also to under-
stand the mode of action of polysiloxane in emulsion breaking in
order to correlate the efficiency of coalescence to the interfacial
film properties.
Experimental Procedures
Materials. Crude Oil. Two types of crude oil were used: Crude
Oil A from a North Sea field and Crude Oil B from a French field.
Their respective compositions are given in Table 1.
Water. In the case of Crude Oil A, we used reconstituted
production water (25.4 g/l NaCl, 1.1 g/l CaCl
2
, and 0.3 g/l MgCl
2
).
For Crude Oil B, we used either reconstituted production water or
the associated produced water that was sampled at the wellhead
and separated by sedimentation in the laboratory (total salinity:
9 g/l).
Demulsifiers. All silicone products (S) are based on polyalky-
lene oxide-modified polydimethylsiloxane chains with varying
molecular weights and unit numbers of siloxane group Si-O de-
fined by a polarity index (Table 2). The polarity index is equiva-
lent to a solubility parameter: an index of 20 means that the prod-
uct is highly hydrophobic, and for a value greater than 70, it is
considered to be soluble in water.
Two other types of molecules were used: a reference organic
product O (polyglycol) and AOT (sodium di-isooctyl sulfosuccinate).
Methods. Demulsification Tests. A detailed procedure for the
demulsification studies, including the formulation of reproducible
water-in-crude-oil emulsions, their characterization, and the
demulsification bottle tests, is thoroughly described in a previous
SPE paper.
12
We will merely describe here the main steps of the
experimental procedure.
Water-in-crude-oil emulsions were prepared at room tempera-
ture with a Polytron homogenizer. The water cut (% v/v of brine
in the emulsion) was 15% for Crude Oil A (actual water cut on the
Copyright 2005 Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper (SPE 80241) was first presented at the 2003 SPE International Symposium on
Oilfield Chemistry, Houston, 58 February, and revised for publication. Original manuscript
received for review 29 July 2003. Revised manuscript received 2 December 2004. Paper
peer approved 14 December 2004.
44 March 2005 SPE Journal
field) and 30% for Crude Oil B. All the emulsions were kinetically
stable during the period of time required for demulsification tests
(several hours).
For the bottle tests, all demulsifiers were injected with a precise
Hamilton syringe from an initial solution at a concentration of 2%
in a xylene/methanol mixture (75/25% w/w). Concentrations of
demulsifiers injected in the emulsion were expressed in ppm of
active component based on the total weight of emulsion. Bottle
tests were performed at 40C in order to determine the kinetics
of separation, the maximum amount, and the quality of the sepa-
rated water.
More precise bottle tests were performed by using Turbiscan
MA 2000 (FormulAction) (Fig. 1), an automated, vertical-scan
macroscopic analyzer commonly used to study the stability of
concentrated and opaque dispersed systems such as emulsions,
suspensions, or foams. A near-infrared light source is used com-
bined with a double detection system involving transmission and
light scattering (backscattering). Turbiscan carries out step-by-step
vertical scanning of the entire sample and converts the macro-
scopic aspects of the mixture into graphics. Designed to work in
kinetic mode, it shows the evolution of a sample by the simple
comparison of transmission and backscattering graphs. Different
cycles of measurements can be programmed, and destabilization
kinetics can be determined over varying periods of time, from a
few minutes to weeks.
Information obtained in transmission mode allowed the deter-
mination of the kinetics of phase separation. Quantification of the
clarity of the separated water was also possible through the trans-
mitted-light intensity.
Dispersion Setup. This apparatus was developed in IFP in
order to reconstitute crude-oil emulsions in more realistic dynamic
conditions of appropriate pressure and temperature.
13
In Fig. 2, a
schematic overview of the experimental setup used for the recon-
stitution of emulsions is depicted. It is composed of two piston
pumps that can inject simultaneously crude oil and water into an
orifice that simulates a model choke valve. Each fluid can be
combined with gas (methane) if necessary. The calibrated orifice is
mounted in a vertical-positioned tube with an inner diameter of 4.8
mm. The orifice plate has a thickness of 1.5 mm, and the diameter
of the circular hole in the orifice plate can be, respectively, 0.6,
0.7, 0.8, 0.9, and 1 mm. The oil and water supply tubes have an
inner diameter of 4 mm and join each other 21 cm upstream of the
orifice, enabling some premixing of the phases. The fluid pressure
can be measured at two locations, respectively, 5.8 cm upstream
and downstream of the orifice. A maximum volume of 500 ml of
each phase can be pumped by two piston pumps at a fixed flow
rate into the supply tubes. The produced oil/water mixtures are
collected in a reservoir, which is mounted 10 cm above the orifice
and can be observed through a glass window before depressuriza-
tion. The entire equipment is placed inside a cupboard and can be
heated up to a maximum temperature of 100C. The maximum
pressure is 150 bar in the pumps and 50 bar in the reservoir.
Chemical additives can be injected online just after the orifice.
Emulsions of Crude Oil B were made at 40C, with an orifice
diameter of 0.6 mm and flow rate of 100 l/h (water cut 30%).
Initial Emulsions. For both types of crude oil (A and B), we
obtained the same type of emulsion under static and dynamic
conditions. They were kinetically stable during the period of time
required for testing the efficiency of separation (at least 2 hours),
and the mean droplet size was between 10 and 15 m.
Interfacial Measurements. Previous studies have shown the
importance of interfacial properties for understanding the mecha-
nisms of crude-oil-emulsion stabilization and destabilization.
7,1417
Langmuir Trough. The Langmuir balance was used to study
isothermal compressions of crude-oil/water interfacial films. Ex-
periments were performed with a KSV 5000 Langmuir Balance
double-barrier system (KSV Chemicals, Helsinki, Finland) (Fig.
3). The trough used for liquid/liquid pressure isotherms is a pro-
totype designed by KSV chemicals in collaboration with the U. of
Compigne. It is a double trough, made entirely of Delrin. It
contains a small inside trough compartment for the aqueous phase
(approximately 130 ml), on which the lighter phase can be poured
(approximately 400 ml). The barriers contain holes to allow the
flow of oil as the compression of the interface proceeds. The
Wilhelmy plate (4 mm high) is first placed in the water phase.
Then the oil phase is poured until total immersion of the plate. The
balance is then tared before recording the interfacial pressure (dif-
ference between equilibrium interfacial tension and interfacial ten-
sion at a given compression level). This technique allows, among
other things, determination of the viscoelastic properties of inter-
faces in presence of demulsifiers.
17
Drop-Volume Technique. Dynamic interfacial-tension mea-
surements were performed with the drop-volume method by using
the Krss drop-volume tensiometer, model DVT10. A sample of
the aqueous solution is placed in a glass tube. A small-bore cap-
illary connected to a microsyringe is located at the bottom of this
glass tube, and the syringe pump is used to force the oil phase
through the capillary into the denser phase at a constant flow rate.
A timer is started when the first drop is detected at the tip of the
capillary. Elapsed time between subsequent drops is then measured
and converted to the volume of each drop, which is directly pro-
portional to the interfacial tension. This technique can be used to
determine adsorption kinetics and/or to compare the behavior of
different surfactants at the oil/water interface.
15
Results and Discussion
Efficiency of Silicone Demulsifiers. Bottle Tests, Crude Oil A. In
the case of Crude Oil A, demulsification test conditions
were chosen that were similar to those encountered on an actual
North Sea field: Fig. 1Turbiscan MA2000 principle.
45 March 2005 SPE Journal
Crude Oil A from the field.
Reconstituted water (composition similar to the produced
water on the field).
Water cut of 15%.
Concentration of demulsifier of 15 ppm (in the emulsion).
Temperature of 40C (temperature in the first separator).
Five silicone demulsifiers were tested separately and compared
to a classical organic demulsifier that was found particularly effi-
cient on this kind of emulsion. Kinetics of water separation was
determined from Turbiscan analysis (Fig. 4). The organic product
shows the best performance in terms of total amount of separated
water at the plateau value (approximately 85%). It is worth notic-
ing that all silicone products, except S3, permit a very fast sepa-
ration of the water phase, but attain a plateau after 10 to 20 min-
utes. S3 behavior is interesting because it shows a quite long time
of induction where no separation is observed (approximately 20
minutes), but the maximum amount of water separated after 60
minutes (71%) is very close to that observed with S4 (74%). Con-
sidering the amount of separated water after 20 minutes of test,
the classification in terms of decreasing efficiency is therefore
the following:
O > S4 > S5 > S1 > S2 > S3.
The specific behavior of S3 encouraged us to perform some
tests on silicone blends based on this molecule, always with 15
ppm of total active matter. Fig. 5 shows the efficiency of separa-
tion of blends S3/S4, S3/S2, and S3/S1 (50/50 w/w). The presence
of the low-molecular-weight silicone S3 strongly increases the
efficiency of separation compared to each product used alone. A
clear synergy effect is found when mixing silicones of different
molecular weights and polarities.
18
Moreover, the silicone blend
S3/S4 seems more efficient than the classical organic O chosen as
reference (90% of separated water after 20 minutes).
Fig. 3Scheme of Langmuir balance.
Fig. 2IFP dispersion rig to reconstitute crude-oil emulsions.
46 March 2005 SPE Journal
With the same idea of potential complementarity between prod-
ucts, blends of silicones and organics were tested (O/S4, O/S2, and
O/S1, 50%/50%, w/w; see Fig. 6). The same type of synergy was
found and, once more, the blend containing S4 is the most efficient
(95% of separated water after 20 minutes).
Finally, we compared the kinetics of separation obtained with
the best formulation (O/S4) to a classical molecule often used in
commercial formulations: sodium di isooctyl sulfosuccinate or
AOT (Fig. 7). AOT shows in that case poor efficiency and exhib-
its, as S3, a quite long time of induction.
Bottle Tests, Crude Oil B. The same type of tests were per-
formed with Crude Oil B and its associated produced water. The
water cut was 30% and the temperature of separation was 40C.
Preliminary tests showed that S4 was the best silicone demulsifier
when used alone. It is worth noticing that the minimum concen-
tration required for breaking Crude Oil B emulsions is much
higher than 15 ppm. Fig. 8 shows the kinetics of water separation
for Crude Oil B emulsions treated with 50 ppm of S4, S3, and O.
The classification in terms of decreasing efficiency is exactly the
same as for Crude Oil A:
O > S4 > S3.
But even at 50 ppm of S4, the amount of separated water is still
quite low (50% of separated water after 20 minutes). S3 exhibits
the same behavior as observed with Crude Oil A: a period of
induction followed by a period of separation characterized by slow
kinetics. However, the induction time is shorter (less than 10 min-
utes). The reference organic product O gives the best efficiency
(70% of separated water after 20 minutes).
The efficiency of blends S3/S4 and O/S4 was also studied (Fig.
9). A very clear synergy effect can be observed, especially with the
blend of silicones S3/S4. Both formulations exhibit similar effi-
ciencies at 50 ppm (approximately 75% of separated water after
20 minutes).
It is noteworthy that at least 500 ppm of AOT is required to
obtain the same level of efficiency (Fig. 10).
Dispersion Rig. This experimental setup was specifically de-
signed by IFP to reconstitute crude-oil emulsions in more realistic
conditions compared to those in the laboratory. All experiments
were performed with Crude Oil B only, at 40C, for a total flow
Fig. 4Kinetics of water separation from bottle tests with silicone demulsifiers S and organic product O, 15 ppm, 40C, Crude Oil
A (100%: complete separation of water).
Fig. 5Kinetics of water separation from bottle tests with silicone blends, 15 ppm, 40C, Crude Oil A (100%: complete separation
of water).
47 March 2005 SPE Journal
Fig. 6Kinetics of water separation from bottle tests with organic/silicone blends, 15 ppm, 40C, Crude Oil A (100%: complete
separation of water).
Fig. 7Kinetics of water separation from bottle tests with organic/silicone blend and AOT, 15 ppm, 40C, Crude Oil A (100%:
complete separation of water).
Fig. 8Kinetics of water separation from bottle tests with S3, S4, and O, 50 ppm, 40C, Crude Oil B (100%: complete separation
of water).
48 March 2005 SPE Journal
rate of 100 l/h and a water cut of 30%. Emulsions were formed
through a calibrated orifice with a 0.6-mm diameter that simulates
the choke valve at the wellhead.
Chemical additives can be injected online in the emulsion, just
after the orifice, by a metering pump. Separation of emulsions can
be observed through a glass window in the reservoir placed above
the orifice.
Chemicals S4, S3, O, and blends S3/S4 and O/S4 were tested
in the dispersion rig under the conditions previously described.
The percentage of separated water obtained at the plateau is given
in Fig. 11 and Table 3 for different concentrations.
The classification between pure products does not change:
O>S4>S3, but product O appears particularly efficient, as the
phases separation is nearly complete at a concentration of 100
ppm. It is noteworthy that in dynamic conditions, the efficiency
of blend O/S4 seems to result from an average behavior, while
a small effect of synergy is still observed with blend of sili-
cones S3/S4.
These results were compared to bottle-test results in Table 3.
For each pure compound, efficiency seems much better in dynamic
conditions. But, surprisingly, in the case of blends S3/S4 and O/S4,
results from both kinds of experiments are very similar and appear
to be slightly better in the bottle tests. More experiments are nec-
essary to confirm and understand this behavior.
Finally, some experiments were made by adding chemicals
directly in the oil phase before the dispersion test. The objective
was to determine if the presence of the additive in the crude oil
could inhibit the emulsion formation through the orifice. Results
are given in Table 4.
The obtained results clearly show that the efficiency of sepa-
ration is favored by the addition of the demulsifier online. This is
certainly because of the need for a suitable partition of chemicals
between oil and water for an optimal action. This hypothesis is
strengthened by the experiment labeled * in Table 4. In that case,
product O was added in the oil phase, but crude oil was kept
several days in contact with the aqueous phase before the experi-
ment in the dispersion rig. It is then clear that the partition of
product O in both phases allowed an efficiency of separation of
the same order of magnitude as the one obtained with an injec-
tion online.
Dynamic Interfacial Studies. Measurements of interfacial prop-
erties were performed in order to understand the mode of action of
polysiloxane demulsifiers. The Langmuir trough allows the study
of isothermal compressions of liquid/air or liquid/liquid interfacial
films. It is a very useful technique to characterize the organization
of demulsifiers with natural surfactants contained in the crude oil.
Furthermore, kinetics aspects related to the mobility of demulsi-
Fig. 9Kinetics of water separation from bottle tests with silicone blends, 50 ppm, 40C, Crude Oil B (100%: complete separation
of water).
Fig. 10Kinetics of water separation from bottle tests with AOT, 40C, Crude Oil B (100%: complete separation of water).
49 March 2005 SPE Journal
fiers at the interface can be studied by dynamic surface tension
measurements (drop-volume technique).
Langmuir Trough. The objective was to study the modifica-
tion of water/crude-oil interfacial properties in presence of demul-
sifiers. The demulsifier dissolved in chloroform was deposited at
the crude-oil/water interface in the Langmuir trough. The com-
pression rate was 5 mm/min. This technique gives a good repre-
sentation of the actual interface compression during the coales-
cence process of an emulsion. A simple geometrical calculation
shows that the maximum degree of compression (A/A
0
0.1
where A is area of the interface while A
0
is initial value of inter-
facial area) reached during the experiments with the Langmuir
balance corresponds to the reduction of interfacial area resulting
from the complete coalescence of 10 m emulsion droplets for a
water cut of 30%.
Fig. 12 shows the isothermal compression of Crude Oil A/wa-
ter interface after addition of 0, 5, and 10 ppm of demulsifier S4.
The spreading or surface pressure =
0
is plotted vs. ln(A/A
0
)
(with
0
crude-oil/water interfacial tension at equilibrium,
measured interfacial tension during compression, and A/A
0
ratio
between the interface area and the initial interface area).
The addition of demulsifier S4 causes an increase of the spread-
ing pressure, meaning that the interfacial tension is decreasing. It
is worth noticing that the different parts of the curves in presence
of S4 exhibit different slopes compared to the crude oil/water
interface without additive (0 ppm). These modifications can be
related to changes of the elasticity modulus E d/dln(A/A
0
). It
means that the elastic properties of the interface are strongly modi-
fied by the presence of demulsifier molecule.
The respective influence of S4, S3, and AOT was studied in the
case of Crude Oil B (Fig. 13). Compression isotherms thus ob-
tained show a strong modification of Crude Oil B/water interface
properties in presence of polysiloxane demulsifiers:
1. When A/A
0
<0.5, the compressibility of the interfacial layer
decreases in presence of polysiloxanes S3 and S4, indicating the
formation of a more condensed phase.
2. At high degrees of compression (A/A
0
<0.25), a phase tran-
sition is taking place, characterized by a high compressibility that
could be related to a 2D liquid/solid transition, a change in con-
formation or orientation of macromolecules, or the expulsion of
these macromolecules toward the oil phase.
Therefore, compared to AOT, which exhibits a poor efficiency
in breaking Crude Oil B emulsions (see Fig. 10), polysiloxane
demulsifiers strongly modify the behavior of the oil/water inter-
face during compression.
Drop-Volume Technique. Dynamic interfacial tensions be-
tween Crude Oils A and B and water were measured with the
drop-volume technique in presence of S3 and S4 (Figs. 14 and
15). Flow rates of crude oil varied from 0.02 to approximately 50
ml/h. In the case of Crude Oil A (Fig. 14), both demulsifiers allow
a significant decrease of dynamic interfacial tensions at low flow
rates, indicating that they are very mobile and active at the crude-
oil/water interface. Demulsifier S4, which is more efficient than S3
in breaking the corresponding emulsion, exhibits here the lower
interfacial tensions. For Crude Oil B, the range of flow rates was
between 2 and 50 ml/h, and no significant influence of demulsi-
fiers was observed (Fig. 15). Additional experiments should be
performed at lower flow rates to investigate more precisely the
behavior of polysiloxanes.
Conclusions
Polysiloxanes were tested as demulsifiers with two types of crude-
oil emulsions by classical bottle tests in the laboratory and com-
pared to classical demulsifiers (polyglycol O and AOT). They
were found particularly efficient, and some blends of silicone/
silicone and silicone/organic were selected because of the synergy
effect observed between molecules.
Some tests were then performed on the best products with a
specific experimental setup dispersion rig that has been devel-
oped by IFP to reconstitute crude oil emulsions in dynamic con-
ditions of pressure and temperature. For each product tested sepa-
rately, efficiency strongly increased in dynamic conditions, but
this effect was not observed in the case of blends. The experiments
performed in order to confirm the inhibition effect of demulsifiers
when added to the oil phase before emulsification in the dispersion
rig showed the extreme importance of molecule mobility and par-
tition at the crude oil/water interface. Therefore, performing dy-
namic testing when evaluating demulsifiers appears very important
in order to assess their performance in realistic dynamic condi-
tions. But more experiments are needed to investigate the influence
of hydrodynamics conditions on water and crude-oil separation by
chemical demulsifiers.
Fig. 11Efficiency of demulsifiers in dynamic dispersion tests
(dispersion rig), Crude Oil B, 40C.
50 March 2005 SPE Journal
Fig. 12Compression isotherms of Crude Oil A+S4/water interface, 20C (Langmuir Balance), for 0, 5, and 10 ppm of demulsifier.
Fig. 13Compression isotherms of Crude Oil B/water interface, 20C (Langmuir Balance), in presence of S3, S4, and AOT (50 ppm).
51 March 2005 SPE Journal
Dynamic interfacial experiments allowed the relation of the
good performances of polysiloxanes to their molecular mobility
and their behavior at the crude-oil/water interface. Further experi-
ments are under progress in order to determine the influence of
various parameters (e.g., the nature of crude oil and salinity) on the
viscoelastic properties of the interface and on adsorption kinetics
in the presence of polysiloxane demulsifiers.
The main objective is to obtain relevant correlations between
the chemical structure of silicone demulsifiers and their efficiency
regarding coalescence of drops of an emulsion. One should say
that even if these molecules are for the present time uneconomical
in cost compared to conventional products, the increase of envi-
ronmental constraints could favor their use in demulsifier formu-
lations in the future.
Nomenclature
A interface area, m, L
A
0
initial interface area (before compression), m, L
E elasticity modulus, mN/m, M/t
2
interfacial tension, mN/m, M/t
2

0
interfacial tension at equilibrium, mN/m, M/t
2
spreading or surface pressure
0
, mN/m, M/t
2
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Crompton/OSI (M. Grabowski) for
providing chemicals and for fruitful discussion. They also grate-
fully acknowledge H. Seris, J.C. Le Bihan, R. Valentin, K. Etheve,
and N. Grimaud for performing all the experiments.
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Built up by Asphaltenes and Resins: Influence of Chemical Demulsi-
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18. Dalmazzone, C. and Nok, C.: Optimization of Silicone Demulsifier
Formulations for Oil Production, paper presented at the 2002 Intl. Oil
Field Chemical Symposium, Geilo, Norway, 1720 March.
Christine Dalmazzone has been a research engineer at Ins.
Franai s du Ptrol e (IFP) si nce 1991. e-mai l : chri sti ne.
dalmazzone@ifp.fr. Her research interests include the physico-
chemical characterization of complex fluids in drilling and pro-
duction: oil-based muds, hydrates formation in drilling fluids,
crude-oil emulsions, and crude-oil/water separation. Dalmaz-
zone holds a PhD degree in chemical engineering from the U.
of Technology, Compigne, France. Christine Nok is currently
Senior Researcher and Project Leader at IFP on water man-
agement for oil exploitation and production activities. She
has more than 20 years of experience in applied research on
chemistry and physicochemistry in various projects in the oil
industry, including reservoir engineering for enhanced oil re-
covery, drilling fluids, cementing, and oil and water treatments
in production and refinery. She holds a PhD degree in polymer
chemistry from the U. of Grenoble (France). Ljepsa Komunjer is
professor of Chemical Engineering at the U. of Technology,
Compigne, France. Her main research topics concern physical
chemistry of liquid/air, solid/liquid, and liquid/liquid interfaces.
53 March 2005 SPE Journal