Article

pubs.acs.org/EF

Role of Physicochemical and Interfacial Properties on the Binary

Coalescence of Crude Oil Drops in Synthetic Produced Water
Bartłomiej Gaweł, Caterina Lesaint, Sulalit Bandyopadhyay, and Gisle Øye*
Ugelstad Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), N-7491
Trondheim, Norway
*
S Supporting Information

ABSTRACT: An important aspect of efficient treatment of produced water is to promote the coalescence of dispersed oil drops.
Therefore, a fundamental understanding of the relations between interfacial and physicochemical properties of crude oils and the
coalescence process is essential, and elucidating these relationships was the aim of this investigation. Nine crude oils and fractions
of two crude oils, where acids, bases, and asphaltenes were selectively extracted, were included in the studies. The dynamic
interfacial tension and interfacial rheology of the oils were followed in synthetic produced water. The binary coalescence of oil
drops was followed by a micropipette setup, and characteristic times for three phenomena occurring during the coalescence
process were identified: the time of film thinning, the time for rupture of the thin film, and the apparent time of merger of the
two drops. Decreasing the density of the crude oils and increasing the strength of the interfacial layer were determined to
influence the coalescence process most significantly, by slowing it down. The elasticity and strength of the interfacial layers were
primarily associated with the presence of asphaltenes at the interface. The strength of the interfacial layer decreased as the
amount of aromatics and acidic components in the crude oil increased. In both cases, this was attributed to improved stability of
the asphaltenes in the bulk of the crude oil.

1. INTRODUCTION by the Bond Number,12 which is proportional to the density

Handling and treatment of produced water generated during the
production of oil and gas is of great concern for the petroleum
industry. Produced water can be a mixture of formation water
and injected seawater that is back-produced. It contains
dispersed oil and solids as well as dissolved organics, solids,
and production chemicals. The total volume of produced water
on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) was 130 million m3
in 2012.1 Even though increasing amounts are reinjected into the
reservoirs, ∼85% of the water is still discharged to the ocean.2
The volumes of produced water increase as the fields mature, and
there is considerable concern over its disposal, because of the
presence of hazardous components. Current regulations at the
NCS require that the oil-in-water concentration must be <30
ppm if the water is discharged to sea.3 However, zero harmful
discharge is the objective.
Technologies for treating produced water include methods
such as gas flotation, extraction, filtration, and hydrocyclones.3−7
Almost 90% of produced water treatment facilities include
hydrocyclones, because of high efficiency and low installation
size.8 The removal efficiency of the oil drops is dependent on the
size of the drops and the density difference between oil and
continuous phase.9 However, the size of the drops is strongly
related to the coalescence process of the drops.
Coalescence of oil drops involves close approach of the drops,
formation and drainage of the thin aqueous film between the
drops, and finally rupture of the film.10 The time of film thinning
(i.e., drainage time) is dependent on whether the drops are
deformable or not.10,11 For deformable drops, the thinning of the
film is within the Reynolds regime, where the drainage time
increases significantly with the size of the drops.10 The
deformation of drops in the presence of gravity can be described
difference between the continuous and dispersed phases.
Furthermore, Gibbs interfacial elasticity affects the film thinning
process, where high elasticity indicates formation of immobile
interfaces and reduced coalescence.13,14
Several studies on the coalescence between two isolated drops
using well-defined model systems have been reported.15−18 A
much more unexplored area is the coalescence of crude oil drops
in complex systems, such as produced water. Understanding the
interfacial phenomena in such systems is considered to be
important in view of increasing the separation efficiency of crude
oil from the produced water, which will be valuable for both the
environment and the oil industry. Previously, we have reported
on the coalescence between crude oil drops and bubbles.19 The
aim of the current work was to investigate how the interfacial and
physicochemical properties of crude oils influence the binary
coalescence crude oil drops. The dynamic interfacial tension and
dynamic interfacial rheology were studied for nine crude oils in
synthetic produced water. Furthermore, asphaltenes, as well as
acidic and basic components, were selectively extracted from two
of the crude oils in order to elucidate their influence on the
interfacial properties. Binary drop coalescence for the crude oils
was measured using a drop bubble micromanipulator.
2. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
2.1. Characterization of Crude oils. Nine crude oils (denoted A−
I) were characterized with respect to density, viscosity, SARA fractions,
Received: August 18, 2014
Revised: January 14, 2015

© XXXX American Chemical Society A DOI: 10.1021/ef501847q

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total acid number (TAN), and total base number (TBN). Descriptions
of the detailed procedures can be found elsewhere.20
2.2. Extraction of Acids and Bases. The extraction of acidic and
basic components from the crude oil, followed a modified version of the
solid phase extraction method developed by Simon et al.21,22 Detailed
procedures for the extractions are described in the Supporting
Information.
2.3. Aqueous Solution. The synthetic produced water was made by
dissolving appropriate amounts of NaCl (99.5%, Merck, Germany),
CaCl2·2H2O (99.5%, Merck, Germany), MgCl2·6H2O (99.5%, Merck,
Germany), NaHCO3 (99.5%, Merck, Germany), and Na2SO4 (98.5%,
Acros Chemicals) in Milli-Q (MQ) water (Millipore Simplicity
System). The ionic concentration of the brine is listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Ionic Composition of the Brine Solutions
ion concentration [ppm]
Cl− 62810
Na+ 35393
Ca2+ 3253
Mg2+ 909
HCO3 − 218
SO42− 49
2.4. Dynamic Interfacial Tension Measurements. A pendant
drop tensiometer (PAT-1, Sinterface Technologies, Germany) was used
to measure the interfacial tensions between crude oil and synthetic
brine. A drop of crude oil was immersed into the aqueous solution by a
curved needle, and images of the drop were recorded over time.
Subsequently, the contours of the drops were fitted to the Laplace−
Young equation by a numerical procedure. Drop images were captured
every second for 4000 s, and the measurements were carried out at 50
°C.
2.5. Dynamic Interfacial Rheology Measurements. The
interfacial rheology was described in terms of the Gibbs interfacial
dilatational modulus and is defined as the change in interfacial tension
due to small variations in the area of a surface element:
⎛A ⎞
E″ = Δγ ⎜ 0 ⎟ sin(φ)
⎝ ΔA ⎠ (3)
where Δγ is the amplitude of the periodic variation in surface tension, A0
the area of the drop before oscillation, ΔA the amplitude of the
interfacial deformation, and φ the phase angle between the oscillating
area and surface tension curves.
The time-dependent evolution of the elastic and viscous moduli was
followed by immersing a drop of crude oil into the appropriate aqueous
solution. The drop volume was sinusoidally varied by 5% at a frequency
of 0.1 Hz, while images of the drop were recorded for 1 h using a drop
tensiometer (PAT-1, Sinterface Technologies, Germany). The corre-
sponding deformation of the interfacial area (ΔA/A0) was ∼4% and
within the range of linear deformation. The oscillating interfacial tension
was measured with a resolution of 20 points per second and was used to
calculate the time-dependent moduli, according to eqs 2 and 3 using a
range of 100 s. The measurements were carried out at 50 °C and were
reproducible within ±2 mN/m. It was not possible to conduct
measurements for crude oils C, D, F, and I, because of the high
viscosity of the oil or unstable drops during oscillations.
2.6. Strength of Interfacial Layers. Oscillation frequency scans
were also carried out directly after the interfacial tension measurements
described above had reached equilibrium. The oscillation frequency of
the drop varied from 0.01 Hz to 0.1 Hz. Oscillations were carried out for
1000 s at 0.01 and 0.02 Hz, 500 s at 0.025 Hz, and 200 s at 0.1 Hz. The
deformation of the drop was ∼4%.
According to Lucassen and Van den Tempel (LVDT) theory, the
formation of elastic interface for systems with low concentration of
interfacially active components (e.g., asphaltenes) is related to
diffusional exchange between the interface and bulk solution.23 In this
case, the characteristic c modulus follows a power-law dependency over
frequency and the characteristic strength of the interface (S) can be
calculated according to the following equation:23
|E| ∝ Sf n (4)
where
⎛2⎞
n = φ⎜ ⎟
⎝π ⎠ (5)

E=
dγ |E| = E′2 + E″2 (6)
d ln A (1)
φ is the phase angle of the Gibb’s dilatational modulus E, f is the
where γ is the interfacial tension and A is the area of the surface element. oscillation frequency, and n is a constant (0 < n < 1). S and n were
The dilatational modulus can be expressed as E = E′ + iE″ when the extracted by fitting experimental parameters to the linear function of log
surface area of the drop is oscillated periodically. The real part, E′, is the E versus log f, after ensuring good correspondence between measured
elastic (storage) modulus, which accounts for the recoverable energy and calculated phase angles (see Figure S1 in the Supporting
stored in the interface, while the imaginary part, E″, is the viscous (loss) Information).
modulus, which accounts for the dissipation of energy through 2.7. Binary Drop Coalescence Measurements. The coalescence
relaxation processes. The two moduli are defined as follows for of two droplets was followed by attaching a drop and bubble
sinusoidal oscillations of the surface area at a given frequency: micromanipulator unit (DBMM-1, Sinterface Technologies, Germany)
⎛A ⎞ onto the PAT-1 drop tensiometer. The DBMM unit is essentially a
E′ = Δγ ⎜ 0 ⎟ cos(φ) capillary-pressure tensiometer that consists of two stainless-steel cells
⎝ ΔA ⎠ (2) containing piezo-excitation actuators and the pressure sensors in

Table 2. Characterisation Data for the Crude Oils

A B C D E F G H I
density @ 50 °C (g/cm3) 0.78 0.90 0.91 0.91 0.81 0.82 0.92 0.85 0.9
viscosity @ 50 °C (cP) 1.5 17.8 70.4 50.8 4.2 4.7 59.6 6.1 32.8
saturates (wt %) 80 44.3 25.6 58.1 67.7 62.2 53.5 60 52
aromatics (wt %) 18 38.8 49.6 30.7 27.1 31.2 29.9 36 32
resins (wt %) 1.9 16.4 10.9 9.5 4.4 5.9 14.4 6.7 13.9
asphaltenes (wt %) 0.1 0.5 13.9 1.7 0.8 0.7 2.5 0.3 2.1
resin/asphaltenes ratio 19 33 0.8 6 6 8 6 22 7
TAN (mg/g)a 0.4 (0.2) 2.3 (1.8) 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.3 2.2 2.7 1.4
TBN (mg/g)a 0.6 (0.6) 4.4 (3.6) 1.3 1.5 1.1 1.5 2.9 0.8 3.0

a
Values shown in parentheses represent values measured for asphaltenes-extracted fractions.

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opposite positions. A capillary is connected to each of the cells so that

the tips are facing each other and the distance between them can be
manually controlled by an xyz-axis microtranslation stage. Further
details about the setup can be found elsewhere.24
The cells and capillaries were purged with water prior to each
experiment. The glass capillaries (internal diameter of ∼0.5 mm) then
were filled with crude oil by suction from a vial. Each capillary contained
∼10 μL of oil, which was usually sufficient for 5−10 repeated
measurements. The capillaries were immersed in the brine solution
and crude oil drops of similar size (diameter of about 0.5 mm) were
formed at each tip. One drop was approached toward the other
immediately after formation. All experiments were carried out at 50 °C.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. Physicochemical Properties of the Crude Oils. The
physicochemical properties of the crude oils are gathered in
Table 2. The densities ranged from 0.78 g/cm3 to 0.92 g/cm3,
where the three lightest oils (A, E, and F) had densities less than Figure 1. Dynamic interfacial tension of crude oil A and its fractions in
0.82 g/cm3 and the remaining oils had densities above 0.85 g/ brine.
cm3. The lightest crude oils contained the lowest amounts of
resins and highest amounts of saturates, which likely accounted
for the low densities and viscosities for these oils. The asphaltene
content of crude oil C (13.9 wt %) was considerably higher than components contributed to reducing the interfacial tension of
for the other oils, for which it ranged from 0.1 to 2.5 wt %. Crude the crude oils, which is in agreement with previous
oil C was also the only oil where the amount of asphaltenes was observations.25 Furthermore, the slower kinetics for these
higher than the amount of resins. The TBN values ranged from fractions suggests that relatively small interfacially active
0.6 mg/g to 4.4 mg/g. Five of the crude oils (A, C, D, E, and F) molecules were removed during the extraction of the acidic
had low TAN values, ranging from 0.3 mg/g to 0.5 mg/g, while and basic components and substitution by larger components
the remaining oils had higher values (1.4−2.7 mg/g). The only slows the kinetics. The asphaltene-extracted fraction, on the
acidic oil was crude oil H. other hand, had lower interfacial tension than the crude oil. It is
3.2. Interfacial Tension. The dynamic interfacial tension inferred from this that asphaltenes were also present at the crude
decayed uniformly, at different rates, toward equilibrium values oil/brine interface. The cross-sectional area that asphaltenes
(see Figure S2 in the Supporting Information). The kinetic occupy at the interface is relatively large26 and when they are
variation can be related to the abundance, molecular structure, extracted from the crude oil, smaller interfacially active
aggregation state, and mobility of the interfacially active components can access the available space. The higher fraction
species.25−31 The equilibrium interfacial tension of the crude of molecules at the interface can then account for the lower
oils in synthetic brine ranged from 4.2 mN/m to 17.4 mN/m, as interfacial tension observed for this fraction. Overall, the dynamic
shown in Table 3. interfacial tension data suggested that the extracted constituents
of one oil fraction become replaced at the interface by the
Table 3. Interfacial Properties of the Crude Oils constituents of the remaining fractions.
3.3. Dynamic Interfacial Rheology. The elastic moduli
crude oil IFTeq (mN/m) interfacial strength, S n
were larger than the viscous moduli to different extents for all the
A 8.9 27 0.33 investigated oils, indicating various degrees of elasticity of the
B 9.5 9 0.24
interfaces. Three of the crude oils (A, E, and H) showed an
C 4.2
increase of the elastic modulus over time, while it was
D 12.6
independent of time for the remaining oils (B and G) (see
E 17.4 27 0.30
Figure 2).
F 5.3 16 0.18
G 16.8 16 0.53
H 16.9 9 0.03
I 14.5 10 0.30

No strong correlations were found between the IFT values and

the amount of any of the crude oil fractions. However, the
influence of crude oil composition on the interfacial tension was
further investigated by selectively extracting acidic, basic, and
asphaltenic components from two of the oils (A and B). As
presented in Figure 1, the dynamic interfacial tension decayed
uniformly, but at different rates, for the various fractions of crude
oil A.
The trends were similar for crude oil B (see Figure S3 in the
Supporting Information). Both the acid- and base-extracted
fractions had higher interfacial tensions than the crude oil.
Consequently, both acidic and basic interfacially active Figure 2. Dynamic interfacial elasticity of the crude oils in brine.

C DOI: 10.1021/ef501847q
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The increase in elasticity is attributed to adsorption and
subsequent rearrangement of asphaltenes at the interface, and
this has also been reported by other researchers.23,32,33
Further investigations of the various fractions of crude oils A
and B suggested differences in the synergies between
components in the crude oils, which were decisive for their
interfacial properties. The elastic and viscous moduli as a
function of time for both crude oils and their fractions are shown
in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Dynamic interfacial elasticity (closed symbols) and viscosity
(open symbols) of (A) crude oil A and its fractions and (B) crude oil B
and its fractions.
The elastic moduli were higher than the viscous moduli for all
the fractions, and this indicates some degree of elasticity for all
the interfaces. The elastic moduli for crude oil A and its base-
extracted fraction were comparable and increased slowly over
time (see Figure 3A). For the acid-extracted fraction, however,
the elastic modulus was significantly higher and increased
markedly over time. Finally, the asphaltene-extracted fraction
had the lowest elastic modulus with no time dependence. This
fraction had lower TAN value, but similar TBN values as the
crude oil (see Table 2). The absence of basic groups in the
asphaltenes could account for the low stabilization of this fraction
by acidic components in the resin fraction. The similarities
between the base-extracted fraction and crude oil showed that
the basic components did not have any major impact on the
viscoelastic properties of the crude oil/brine interface. On the
other hand, synergies between asphaltenes and acidic com-
D DOI: 10.1021/ef501847q
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pounds for the interfacial elasticity of the crude oils were clearly
revealed. The low elastic modulus for the asphaltenes-extracted
fraction confirms the importance of the asphaltenes for the
elasticity of the crude oil/water interface. Molecular mechanisms
that could account for the fast formation of an elastic intarface for
the acid-extracted fraction are (i) destabilization and enhanced
adsorption of asphaltenes at the interface in the absence of acidic
compounds (i.e., the acidic components stabilize asphaltenes in
the crude oil) and (ii) more densely packed asphaltenes at the
interface when the interfacially active acidic components were
removed. A combination of the above is also possible.
The elastic moduli of all fractions of crude oil B were
independent of time and were lower than the corresponding
fractions of crude oil A (see Figure 3B).
All the fractions had lower elasticity moduli, compared to the
crude oil, and it was lowest for the asphaltenes- extracted fraction.
This demonstrated that the asphaltenes influenced the interfacial
properties of this crude oil as well. However, no synergies
between the asphaltenes and acidic components were seen.
Notably, both the TAN and TBN values were somewhat lower
than the crude oil in this case. This might provide good
stabilization of the asphaltenes in the bulk of the crude oil.
Furthermore, lower average polarity of this fraction,20 in
combination with higher content of aromatics, might provide
better solubility conditions for the asphaltenes, thereby making
them less susceptible to form viscoelastic interfaces.
3.4. Interfacial Strength. The viscoelastic behavior can be
modeled based on Lucassen and Van den Tempel (LVDT)
theory. In this model, the viscoelastic behavior is mostly related
to diffusion of the molecules to and from the interface, rather
than formation of the physical network.23,26 The latter could be
related to non-Laplacian behavior of the drops, which was not
observed during our measurements. The interfacial strengths (S)
and n values of the crude oils, calculated from eq 4, are listed in
Table 3. Crude oil H had a considerably more elastic interface
(i.e., lower n value) than the other oils. This was the only acidic
oil and it is also known to contain tetrameric carboxylic acids.
These acids can form highly rigid interfaces, when calcium is
present in the water phase.34 Generally, the interfacial strength
decreased with increasing contents of aromatics (see Figure 4)
and increasing amounts of acidic compounds (TAN) (see Figure
5) in the crude oil.
Figure 4. Dependency of the interfacial strength (S) on the amount of
aromatics in the crude oils. The solid line is the regression line for the
data.
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Figure 5. Dependency of the interfacial strength (S) on the total acid
number (TAN) of the crude oils. The solid line is the regression line for
the data.
The aromatic character of the asphaltenes makes them soluble
in the aromatic fraction of the oil, and the reduction in strength
was attributed to less aggregation and reduced interfacial activity
of asphaltenes as the aromatics content increased. The
weakening of interfacial strength with increasing TAN value
suggested synergetic effects between the acidic components and
asphaltenes, as outlined above. Notably, the interfacial strength
also decreased with increasing resin contents (see Figure S4 in
the Supporting Information). This suggested that most of the
acidic compounds were present in the resin fractions of the crude
oils.
3.5. Drop−Drop Coalescence. The differential pressures
across the oil/water interfaces and the distances between the
approaching drops were acquired as a function of time during the
binary drop coalescence measurements.
Figure 6 shows the differential pressure across an oil drop
(solid line) along with the distance between two drops (dashed
line) in a typical experiment. The differential pressure stabilized
when the predefined size of the drop was reached (indicated by
Figure 6. Differential pressure (solid line) and distance between drops (dashed line), as a function of time for a typical drop−drop coalescence
experiment: stable oil drop (point A), zero gap between the drops (point B), rupture of thin film starts (point C), merging of drops starts (point D), and
coalescence process completed (point E). The images on the right correspond to the various stages on the graph.
E DOI: 10.1021/ef501847q
Article
point A). After stabilization, one drop was approached toward
the other until the separation distance reached zero (indicated by
point B). At this point, the drops were separated by a thin
aqueous film. After some time, a rapid decrease in the pressure
difference was observed between point C and point D. In some
cases, a break point was observed, and the decrease in pressure
difference slowed before reaching a stable value, as shown
between point D and point E in Figure 6. In other cases, this
break point was not observed. Images corresponding to the
various points are also shown in Figure 6, while videos with and
without the retarded decrease between point D and point E are
available in the Supporting Information. The time for the entire
process from point B to point E was referenced as the
coalescence time. This is divided into three characteristic times
for the subprocesses described above: drainage time, rupture
time, and apparent merging time.
Drainage Time (B−C). Drainage time is defined as the time
between the approach of the drops and rupture (rapid change of
the pressure); in this stage, the pressure is relatively constant,
since the drainage does not reduce the interfacial area of the
drops. The time corresponds to the thinning of the aqueous film
between the drops.
Rupture Time (C−D). The rupture time is characterized by a
rapid change of the pressure over time, which is attributed to the
breakage of the aqueous film between drops that results in the
contact between the oil drops.
Apparent Merging Time (D-E). The apparent merging time is
characterized by a slow change of the pressure over time and is
attributed to the flow of crude oil and equilibration process.
Notably, this process was too fast to be detected for samples with
low viscosity.
Points B, C, D and E were chosen “by eye”.
Table 4 lists the times for the various processes.
The coalescence time varied from ∼2 s to 9 s among the crude
oils. The drainage time (i.e., time of film thinning) constituted
most of this time, while the rupture of the film occurred faster
than 0.6 s. The apparent merging time of two drops was <2 s.
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Table 4. Characteristic Times during the Coalescence Process down by elastic interfaces. Note that the strength and the drop
binary coalescence measurements were carried out at different
crude coalescence drainage rupture time apparent merging
oil time (s) time (s) (s) timea (s) time scales. Nevertheless, formation of the viscoelastic layer can
start quickly after drop formation (Figure 2) and it is anticipated
A 5.84 ± 1.55 5.5 ± 1.5 0.34 ± 0.05 ND
that the drainage time would become longer if longer aging was
B 5.65 ± 0.65 4.7 ± 0.4 0.35 ± 0.05 0.6 ± 0.2
possible in the coalescence experiments.
C 4.43 ± 1.31 1.9 ± 1.0 0.63 ± 0.11 1.9 ± 0.2
The rupture time was strongly related to the asphaltene
D
content of the crude oils (see Figure 9). Several mechanisms for
E 9.10 ± 1.30 8.8 ± 1.2 0.30 ± 0.10 ND
F 5.93 ± 2.02 5.6 ± 2.0 0.33 ± 0.02 ND
G 4.84 ± 1.23 3.4 ± 0.6 0.44 ± 0.03 1 ± 0.6
H 5.11 ± 0.91 4.8 ± 0.9 0.31 ± 0.01 ND
I 1.84 ± 0.51 1.0 ± 0.3 0.34 ± 0.01 0.5 ± 0.2
a
ND = ot detectable.

The drainage times tended to decrease with increased density

of the crude oil (see Figure 7). This was attributed to increasing

Figure 9. Dependency of the rupture time on the asphaltene content of

the crude oils. The solid line is the regression line for the data.

Figure 7. Dependency of the drainage time on the density of the crude
oils. The solid line is the regression line for the data.
Bond numbers when the density difference between the crude oil
and aqueous phase increased. The Reynolds regime then became
more dominating for the drainage process, and it has been shown
that this causes the film thinning to slow down for drop sizes
above 100 μm.10 It is also known that the interfacial elasticity
slows down the film thinning rate.10 The increased drainage time
with increasing strength was in agreement with this (Figure 8),
and this observation suggested that the film thinning was slowed
the rupture of thin liquid films have been proposed.35 In the so-
called “capillary wave mechanism”, thermally excited fluctuations
of the opposite interfaces come in contact and cause film rupture
at a critical film thickness. It is then reasonable that the rupture
time becomes longer when the asphaltenes content (and,
consequently, also the viscosity (see Figure S5 in the Supporting
Information) increases, since this will lower the flexibility of the
interfaces. Detectable apparent merging times occurred only
when the viscosity of the crude oils was >17 mPa s and increased
as the viscosity increased (see Figure 10). This demonstrated that
the viscous forces were the most important factor for the rupture
and merging processes.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The relationship between interfacial properties and coalescence
of crude oil drops was directly investigated. Asphaltenes was
found to be the main factor opposing the coalescence of crude oil

Figure 8. Dependency of the drainage time on the interfacial strength Figure 10. Dependency of the merging time on the viscosity of the crude
(S) of the crude oils. The solid line is the regression line for the data. oils.

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drops. Coalescence was hindered by an elastic oil/water
interface, which was associated with the interfacial activity of
asphaltenes. This decreased if the asphaltenes solubility in crude
oil was enhanced by high aromatics content in the oil.
Furthermore, the interfacial activity of asphaltenes could be
hindered by acidic components from crude oil. These
components tended to stabilize the asphaltenes in the bulk,
and thus reduced the elastic character of the interface.
■
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
*
S Supporting Information
Depictions (Figures S1−S5), as well as detailed description of
extraction procedures and videos of coalescence experiments, as
noted in the text, are provided. This material is available free of
charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.
■
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
* Tel.: (+47) 73 59 41 35. Fax: (+47) 73 59 40 80. E-mail: gisle.
oye@chemeng.ntnu.no.
Author Contributions
The manuscript was written through contributions of all authors.
All authors have given approval to the final version of the
manuscript.
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
■
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to the industrial sponsors (Con-
ocoPhillips Skandinavia, ENI Norge, Schlumberger Norge,
PWMS, Statoil Petroleum, and Total E&P Norge) of the joint
industrial program “Produced Water Management: Fundamen-
tal Understanding of the Fluids” for financial support. Dr. Jens
Norrman is thanked for proofreading the manuscript.
■
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