Lecture: Surface Production Operations

B Tech Sem-6 Petroleum Engineering

Date: 14th November 2020
Professor Ashish Nagar
Demulsification

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Content

• Emulsions
• Demulsification
• Mechanism
• Chemicals

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 TERMINOLOGY OF EMULSION
EMULSION:-

A general definition of an emulsion is a liquid phase containing a

dispersion of a second, immiscible liquid forms a continuous
matrix while the dispersed phase is discontinuous.

OIL-IN-WATER (O/W) EMULSION – An emulsion of a dispersion of

hydrophobic mainly non-polar liquid (say crude oil) in water. This is
also known as reverse emulsion.

A water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion is opposite to it.

SURFACTANT:

A surface active agent is a substance that exhibits the property of preferentially

adsorbing onto surfaces (interface between a liquid and another medium, either
gas or solid) or interface (between two liquids). At the interface despite it’s own
small concentration, a surfactant can significantly alter the surface or interfacial
free energies of the surface or interface.
 oil
water

oil

water

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EMULSIFYING AGENT:

This is a more general term which includes surfactants but is not limited to
substances which reduce interfacial tension. Materials such as clay colloids or
detritus may stabilize emulsions without modifying interfacial tension.

SURFACE TENSION:

This represents the interfacial free energy of the interface between a liquid and a ga
phase. Gas phase is air normally.

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LIQUID – LIQUID INTERFACES:

When two immiscible liquids are placed in contact an interface results.

INTERFACIAL FREE ENERGY:

In simple terms, this property is the minimum amount of

work required to create a unit area of interface.

 Forces acting on the
molecules at the interface
And in the interior of a pair
of liquids

The forces acting on

the molecules on the
surface and in the
Interior of the liquid
INTERFACIAL TENSION:

This is a force per unit length of interfacial surface and is manifest by the apparent
behaviour of the interface between two liquids to act as a membrane. It can also be
defined as the interfacial free energy.

INTERFACIAL VISCOSITY:

The interface between immiscible liquids has a finite thickness and is the zone where
surfactants will preferentially adsorb. The viscosity in this zone is the interfacial
viscosity and it may play a major role in determining the stability of an interface , i.e.
its resistance to coalescence.
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MICELLES:

These are microscopic aggregations of surfactant

molecules. The aggregations arise from the
limited solubility of the surfactant in the
dispersed phase. Their occurrence may be
detected by determining the critical micelle
concentration (CMC) which is the concentration
of surfactant beyond which a further addition of
surfactant will result in only a marginal decrease
in surface tension.
COALESCENCE:

This is the phenomenon whereby the droplets of

the discontinuous dispersed phase merge to
produce success lively larger droplets until,
eventually a separate phase layer may be created.

FLOCCULATION/AGGREGATION:

This phenomenon involves the attachment of

droplets of the dispersed phase to form aggregates
of drops which have not yet or will not coalesce to
produce a single larger drop.
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CREAMING:

This phenomenon is the separation, on the basis of density differential of the

dispersed phase from the bulk liquid, with or without coalescence. If
coalescence does not occur, the creaming process will yield a concentrated
layer of flocculated dispersed phase containing interspersed bulk phase.
STABILITY:

This property represents the ability of an emulsion to maintain, over time, the
dispersed phase in dispersed form with a constant size
distribution.Creaming,flocculation and coalescence will all destabilize an
emulsion by separate mechanisms.e.g.Deionized water & Hexadecane
 EMULSIONS
• Crude oil is seldom produced alone. It is
generally commingled with water which
creates a number of problems during oil
production. Produced water occurs in two
ways: some of the water may be produced
as free water, i.e. water that will settle out
fairly rapidly, and some of the water may be
produced in the form of emulsions.
Emulsions are difficult to treat and cause a
number of operational problems such as
tripping of separation
equipment in gas-oil separating plants,
production of off-spec crude oil, and
creating high pressure drops in flow
lines. Emulsions have to be treated to
remove the dispersed water and
associated inorganic salts in order to
meet crude specification for
transportation, storage and export and
to reduce corrosion and catalyst
poisoning in downstream processing
facilities.
• Emulsions can be encountered in almost
all phases of oil production and
processing: inside the reservoirs, well
bores and well heads, wet crude handling
facilities, transportation through pipelines,
crude storage and during petroleum
processing. However, the discussion will
be limited to the produced oilfield
emulsions at the well head and at the wet
crude handling facilities. It looks at the
characteristics, occurrence, formation,
stability, handling and breaking of
produced oilfield emulsions.
• A crude oil emulsion is a dispersion of
water droplets in oil. Produced oil-field
emulsions can be classified into three
broad groups:
• Water-in-oil (W/O)
• Oil-in-water (O/W)
• Multiple or complex emulsions
• The water-in-oil emulsions consist of
water droplets in a continuous oil phase
and the oil-in-water emulsions consist of
oil droplets in a water-continuous phase.
In the oil industry water-in-oil emulsions
are more common (most produced
oilfield emulsions are of this kind) and
therefore the oil-in-water emulsions are
sometimes referred to as “reverse”
emulsions.
• Multiple emulsions are more complex
and consist of tiny droplets suspended
in bigger droplets which are suspended
in a continuous phase.
• For example, a water-in-oil-in-water
(W/O/W) emulsion consists of water
droplets suspended in larger oil
droplets which in turn are suspended in
a continuous water phase. Figure
shows the various types of emulsions
WATER IN OIL EMULSION
OIL IN WATER EMULSION
WATER IN OIL IN WATER EMULSION
 Droplet Size distribution of petroleum Emulsions

Medium Emulsion
Distribution function

Tight Emulsion

Loose Emulsion

1 10
100
Droplet diameter (microns)
• Loose emulsions: those that will
separate in a matter of a few minutes.
The separated water is sometimes
referred to as free water.
• Medium emulsions: will separate in a
matter of tens of minutes, and
• Tight emulsions: will separate
(sometimes only partially) In a matter of
hours or even days.
 Effect of pH and demulsifier conc.on emulsion stability
100

30ppm Demulsifier (24hr)

80

30ppm Demulsifier (1hr)

% Water separation
60
40

No Demulsifier (24hr)
20
0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
pH
• Brine composition also has an important
effect (in relation to pH) on emulsion
stability. Figure shows the effect of a
bicarbonate brine and distilled water on
emulsion stability as a function of pH,
Optimum pH (for water separation)
changes from approximately 10 for
distilled water, to between 6-7 for the
brine solution. This is due to ionization
effect (association/interaction of ions
present in the brine with the
asphaltenes).
 Effect of Brine & pH on emulsion stability
100
Distilled water

Brine solution
80
% Water separation
60
40
20
0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12
pH
 Demulsification
• Demulsification is the breaking of a
crude oil emulsion into oil and water
phases. From a process point of view,
the oil producer is interested in two
aspects of demulsification (a) the rate
or the speed at which this separation
takes place and (b) the amount of water
left in the crude oil after separation. A
fast rate of separation and a low value
of the residual water in the crude oil are
obviously what the oil producer wants.
produced oil generally has to meet
company and pipeline specification.
• Typically, the oil shipped from a wet crude
handling facility may not contain more than
0.2% basic sediment and water (BS&W) and
10 PTB (pounds of salt per thousand barrels
of crude oil). This low value of BS&W and
salt content is required in order to reduce
corrosion and deposition of salts. In refinery
operations the primary concern is to remove
inorganic salts from the crude oil before they
cause corrosion or other detrimental effects
in refinery equipment. The salts are removed
by “washing” the crude oil with relatively
fresh water.
 Destabilizing Emulsions
• As mentioned in the previous section,
produced oil-field emulsions possess a
degree of kinetic stability. This stability
arises from the formation of interfacial
films encapsulating the water droplets.
To separate this emulsion into oil and
water, the interfacial film has to be
destroyed and the droplets made to
coalesce.
• Therefore destabilizing or breaking
emulsions is linked very intimately to
the removal of this interfacial film. The
factors that affect the interfacial film
and consequently the stability of the
emulsions were discussed earlier. The
factors that enhance or speed up the
emulsion breaking include:
• Increasing temperature

• Reducing agitation or shear

• Increasing residence or retention time

• Solids removal

• Control of emulsifying agents

 Mechanisms
• Demulsification is the separation of an
emulsion into its component phases. It
is a two step process. The first step is
flocculation (or aggregation, or
agglomeration or coagulation). The
second step is coalescence. Either of
these steps can be the rate-determining
step in the emulsion breaking process
 Flocculation or Aggregation
• The first step in the demulsification
process is the flocculation of water
droplets. During flocculation the
droplets clump together forming
aggregates or “floccs”. The droplets
are close to each other, even touching
at certain points, but may not lose their
identity i.e. they may not coalesce.
Coalescence at this stage only takes
place if the interfacial film surrounding
the water droplets is very weak.
The rate of flocculation depends on a
number of factors including
• water cut,

• temperature,

• viscosity of the oil, and the

• density difference between the oil and

water.
 Coalescence
• Coalescence is the second step in the
demulsification process and follows
flocculation. During coalescence water
droplets fuse or coalesce together to
form a larger drop. This is an
irreversible process that leads to a
decrease in the number of water
droplets and eventually to complete
demulsification.
Coalescence is enhanced by a

• high rate of flocculation,

• absence of mechanically strong films,

• high interfacial tensions,

• low oil and interfacial viscosities,

• high water cuts,

• and high temperatures.

 Demulsification Methods
• In the oil industry crude oil emulsions
must be separated almost completely
before the oil can be transported and
processed further. Emulsion separation
into oil and water necessarily involves
the destabilization of emulsifying films
around water droplets. This process is
accomplished by any or combination of
the following ‘4 methods’
• Reducing the flow velocity that allows
gravitational separation of oil, water
(and gas). This is generally
accomplished in large volume
separators and desalters.
• Adding chemical demulsifiers.
• Increasing the temperature of the
emulsion.
• Applying electrical fields that promote
coalescence.
• Changing the physical characteristics
of the emulsion.
• Due to the wide variety of crude
oils, brines (and hence emulsions),
separation equipment, chemical
demulsifiers and product
specifications, demulsification
methods are very application
specific. Furthermore, emulsions
and conditions change over time
and add to the complexity of the
treatment process.
• The most common methods of
emulsion treatment have been
the application of heat and an
appropriate chemical
demulsifier to promote
destabilization followed by a
settling time to allow
gravitational separation to
occur.
 Thermal Methods
• Heating the emulsion enhances its
breaking or separation. It reduces the viscosity of
the oil and increases the water settling rates.
Increased temperatures also result in the
destabilization of the rigid films due to reduced
interfacial viscosity. Furthermore, the coalescence
frequency between water droplets is increased due
to the higher thermal energy of the droplets. In other
words, heat accelerates the emulsion breaking
process. However, very rarely does it resolve the
emulsion problem alone.
• Increasing the temperature has some
negative effects. First, it costs money
to heat the emulsion stream. Second, it
can result in the loss of light ends from
thc crude oil reducing its API gravity
and the treated oil volume. Finally,
increasing the temperature leads to an
increased tendency towards scale
deposition and an increased potential
for corrosion in treating vessels.
• Application of heat for emulsion
breaking should be based on an overall
economic analysis of the treatment
facility. Cost effectiveness of adding
heat should be balanced against longer
treatment time (larger separator), loss
of light ends and a resultant oil-product
price, chemical costs and the costs of
installation of electrostatic grids or
retrofitting.
 Mechanical Methods
• There is a wide variety of mechanical
equipment available in the breaking of
oil-field produced emulsions. These
include free water knock out drums,
two and three phase separators (low
and high pressure traps), desalters,
settling tanks. These vessels separate
the free water and break emulsions.
 Electrical Methods
• High voltage electricity (electric grids)
is often an effective means of breaking
emulsions. It is generally theorized that
water droplets have a charge
associated and when an electric field is
applied, the droplet move about rapidly
and collide with each other and
coalesce. The electric field also
disturbs the interfacial rigid film by
rearranging the polar molecules
thereby weakening the tight film and
enhancing coalescence.
• The electrical system consists of a
transformer and electrodes that provide high
voltage alternating-current. The electrodes
are placed in such a way to provide an
electric field that is perpendicular to the
direction of flow. The distance between the
electrodes, in some designs, is adjustable so
that the voltage can be varied to meet the
requirement of the emulsion being treated.
• Electrostatic dehydration is rarely used
alone as a method of breaking
emulsions. It is generally used in
conjunction with chemical and heat
addition. Invariably, the use of
electrostatic dehydration will result in a
reduction of heat addition. Lower
temperatures result in fuel economy,
reduced problems with scale and
corrosion formation and reduced light-
ends loss. Electrostatic grids can also
lead to a reduction in the use of
emulsion breaking chemicals.
 Chemical Methods
• By far the most common method of
emulsion treatment is by adding
chemicals called demulsifiers, These
chemicals are designed to neutralize
the effect of emulsifying agents that
stabilize emulsions, Demulsifiers are
surface active compounds and when
added to the emulsion, they migrate to
the oil-water interface and rupture or
weaken the rigid film and enhance
coalescence of water droplets)
Optimum emulsion breaking with a
demulsifier requires:
• A properly selected chemical for the
given emulsion
• Adequate quantity of this chemical
• Adequate mixing of the chemical in the
emulsion
• Sufficient retention time in emulsion
treaters to settle water droplets
• Addition of heat, electric grids,
coalescers, etc to facilitate or
completely resolve the emulsions.
 Selection of Chemicals
• Selection of the right demulsifier is
very crucial in the emulsion breaking
process. The selection process for
chemicals is still viewed as an art rater
than a science. However, with an ever
increasing understanding of the
emulsion breaking process, the
availability of new and improved
chemicals, new technology and R&D
efforts, selection of the right chemical
is becoming easier and more organized
and many of the failures have been
eliminated.
• Demulsifiers are chemicals that contain
solvents (benzene, toluene, xylene,
short-chain alcohols, heavy aromatic
naptha), surfactants, flocculants and
wetting agents. The demulsifiers act by
total or partial displacement of the
indigenous stabilizing interfacial film
components (polar materials) around
the emulsion droplets.
• This displacement also brings about a
change in properties like interfacial
viscosity or elasticity of the protecting
film, thus enhancing destabilization. In
some cases the chemicals
(demulsifiers) act as a wetting agent and
alter the wettability of the stabilizing
particles which leads to a breakup of the
emulsion film.
• Testing procedures are available to select
appropriate chemicals. These tests include bottle
tests, dynamic simulators and actual plant tests. All
test procedures have limitations, There are hundreds
of commercial demulsifier products available that
may be tested. Add to this the changing conditions at
the separation facilities. This results in a very slow
selection process especially at larger facilities, It is
therefore important at such facilities to maintain a
record of operational data and testing procedures as
an on-going activity.
 Dosage
• The amount of chemical added is also
important. Too little demulsifier will
leave the emulsion unresolved. On the
other hand, a high dosage of
demulsifier (an overtreat condition)
may be detrimental to the treatment
process. Since demulsifiers are also
surface active agents like the
emulsifiers, an excess quantity of
demulsifier may also produce very
stable emulsions. In this case the
demulsifier simply replaces the natural
emulsifiers at the interface.
• Due to the wide variety of chemicals
available as demulsifiers, the different
types of crude being handled, the
choice of separation equipment and the
variations in product qualities, it is
difficult to prescribe standard or typical
dosage rates for treating emulsions.
Furthermore, some of the chemicals
come in different concentrations (active
ingredient in a carrier solvent), The
amount or dosage of demulsifier
required is very site specific and
depends on a number of factors.
• Based on an evaluation of the
literature, the demulsifier rates quoted
vary from less than 10 ppm to more
than 100 ppm (based on total
production rates). These numbers arc
provided for primary or secondary oil
recovery emulsions. During tertiary oil
recovery (especially during surfactant
or micellar flooding). demulsifier rates
can he typically in the thousands of
ppm and higher in extreme cases.
 Demulsifier Chemistries
• Demulsifiers are generally specific for a
given emulsion and may be completely
ineffective for another emulsion.
Demulsifiers are typically formulated’
with polymeric chains of ethylene oxides
and polypropylene oxides of alcohol,
ethoxylated phenols, ethoxylated
alcohols and amines, ethoxylated resins,
ethoxylated nonylphenols, polyhydric
alcohols and sulphonic acid salts.
• Typical demulsifier chemistries are
shown in Figure . Commercial
demulsifiers may contain one type of
active ingredient or a mixture of several
of these intermediates. There is a wide
variation within the intermediate type
as well. For example, molecular weight
and structure of the ethylene or
propylene oxides can be changed
giving a complete range of solubilities,
HLBs, charge neutralization
tendencies, solids-wetting
characteristics and of course, costs.
 Typical demulsifier molecular formulas
EOyH EOyH EOyH

EO yH
HEO y PO x PO x O O
N—CH2—CH2--N CH2 CH2

HEO y PO x PO x EO yH

Regular EO +PO complex with Polyfunctional

amine C9H19
C9H19 C9H19

Nonylphenol with EO +PO complex

EOy H EOy H EOyH EOyH

POx POx POx POx

O O O O
CH2 CH2 CH2
SO3H

C8H17 C8H17 C8H17 C8H17

Octyl phenol with EO +PO complex C12 H25

Dodecylbenzene Sulphonic acid

 Mechanism of Demulsification
Using Demuisifiers
• Demulsification using chemicals is a very
complex phenomenon. There are a host of
hypotheses/theories regarding the physico-
chemical mechanism for the action of a
chemical demulsifier in emulsion breaking
process. The only clear generalization
regarding demulsifiers is that they are high
molecular weight (comparable to natural
surfactants) and when used as emulsifying
agents, they tend to establish an emulsion
opposite in type to that which is stabilized by
natural surfactants.
• Demulsifler displace the natural
stabilizers (emulsifier) present in
the interfacial film around the
water droplets. This displacement
is brought about by the adsorption
of the demulsifier at the interface.
• This displacement, occurring at the oil-water
interface, influences the coalescence of water
droplets through enhanced film drainage. The
film drainage process is shown schematically
in Figure. The efficiency of the demulsifier is
dependent on its adsorption at the oil-water or
droplet surface. There is a competition for
adsorption when other surface active species
are present. The indigenous surfactants (like
asphaltenes) present in the crude oil are only
weakly adsorbed and are readily displaced by
the demulsifier.
Film drainage in the presence of a demulsifier .The
demulsifier displaces the indigenous surfactants in
the interfacial film

Water droplet

Film drainage oil

Interfacial film

Water droplet

Demulsifier

Natural Surfactants
• Due to the large variety of components present
in the crude oil, it is not surprising that the
effectiveness of a given demulsifier is sensitive
to the crude oil type. In addition, the adsorption
and displacement process (and hence the
demulsifier effectiveness) is also dependent on
pH, salt content and temperature. The best
demulsifiers are those that readily displace
preformed rigid films and leave a mobile film
(films that exhibit little resistance to
coalescence) in its place. To ensure good
overall demulsifier performance,
 It should:

• Dissolve in the continuous oil phase

• Concentration of the demulsifier should be high

enough to diffuse to the oil-water interface. However,
it should not be higher than a critical concentration
(critical aggregate concentration).

• Partition into the water phase (partitioning coefficient

close to unity)

• Possess a high rate of adsorption at the interface

• The interfacial activity should be
high enough to suppress the
interfacial tension gradient thus
accelerating the rate of film
drainage and promoting
coalescence. Demulsifier selection
and optimization are described in
detail.
 Field Applications
• The design of emulsion treating equipment
and procedures for a given field or
application requires experience and
engineering judgment. The engineer must
rely on laboratory data and data from nearby
wells or fields, and depend on experience.
There is no ‘standard’ solution available for
striking a balance between, for example, the
amount of chemical and heat to resolve
emulsions. The greater the treatment
temperature, the lower the amount of
demulsifier needed. In general, economic
analysis dictates the type and size of
equipment used and the balance between the
amount of chemical and heating
requirements.
• In some cases, crude oil specifications
may decide the system to be used for
emulsion treatment. Other factors
include internal packing vs. the size of
the equipment: the savings in
equipment cost must be balanced
against the increased capital and
operating costs of the packing or
coalescing grids.
• Laboratory bottle tests can provide an
estimate of treating temperatures and
retention times that can be used for design
and operation. However, the laboratory bottle
tests are done under static conditions and
the field usage is dynamic. Demulsifier
dosages, for example, generally are much
greater in the static bottle tests than during
field conditions. However, laboratory testing
is excellent for screening different emulsion
samples for relative tightness, evaluating
prospective demulsifiers, and evaluating the
effects of different variables on emulsion
resolution.
• To select a demulsifier for a given
system one generally starts with the
bottle tests. Representative emulsion
samples are taken and transferred into
several centrifuge tubes. Several
demulsifiers (generally from different
demulsifler vendors) are added to the
centrifuge tubes in various amounts
and water dropout data are collected
and analyzed to determine the best
demulsifier.
• For selecting the best demulsifier several
sets of tests may be necessary at different
concentrations, temperatures, water cuts,
etc. The demulsifier dosages obtained in the
lab are generally greater than will be needed
in the field. It is highly recommended that the
bottle test to be conducted with `fresh’
emulsions (i.e., within a few minutes of
sampling) as aging of samples has a
significant effect on demulsifier dosages.
• During the bottle tests, many other
factors should also be noted: color and
appearance of the emulsion, clarity of
the water, sediments in the water,
presence of a ‘rag’ layer, and loose
solids hanging at the interface. These
factors can provide information that
may be important during demulsifier
selection.
• After the bottle tests, two or three promising
demulsifiers are selected for field testing.
During the field trials, the screened
chemicals should be tested at various
concentrations, operating temperatures,
settling times, clarity of separated water,
and, most importantly, the amount of water
and salt remaining in the produced crude. It
is also a good idea to test the chemicals over
a period of time (minimum of 1-2 days and
longer, if possible) to evaluate the
performance and compare with the
incumbent chemical performance. The best
demulsifier is the one that produces the
fastest, cleanest separation at the lowest
possible cost per unit barrel of crude.
• For existing systems record demulsifier
and other relevant operational data
(production rates, water cuts,
temperatures, costs) over a period of
time. These data can be useful for
analyzing demulsifier dosages (for
example during the summer and
winter), unit demulsifier costs. and can
pinpoint certain activities that may be
responsible for emulsion upsets and
underlying problems. These data are
also very useful for optimization of
emulsion treatment programs.
• Review the emulsion treatment
program periodically as conditions
change. The frequency of evaluation
depends on many factors including the
relative cost of the demulsifier usage,
beating costs, capacity limitations, and
manpower requirements.
 Conclusions
• Emulsions are characterized by the
type of emulsions (w/o, o/w or
multiple), nature of emulsifying agents
present, BS&W, drop size and drop size
distribution, bulk viscosity and
interfacial viscosity
• produced oil-field emulsions are stabilized
by rigid interfacial films that form a “skin” on
water droplets and prevent the droplets from
coalescing.
• The stability of these interfacial films, and
hence the stability of the emulsions, depends
on a number of factors including the heavy
polar material in the crude oil (asphaltenes,
resins, waxes, etc), solids (clays, scales,
corrosion products, etc), temperature, drop
size and drop size distribution, pH, oil and
brine composition.
• The most common method of
measuring the stability of an emulsion
is by the bottle test
• Emulsions are destabilized by
increasing temperature, moderate
agitation followed by gentle settling
(residence time), removal of solids, and
controlling emulsifiers.
• The mechanisms involved in
demulsification are (a) flocculation and
aggregation, (b) sedimentation and
creaming, and ultimately followed by
(c) coalescence.
• The methods involved in emulsion breaking
or demulsification are thermal, mechanical,
electrical, and chemical. Experience and
economics determine which methods and to
what degree each method is used for
emulsion treatment.
• There are very few reported field case
studies on emulsion treatment. Typical
dosages of demulsifier range from less than
10 to over 100 ppm for oil recovery during
primary and secondary (water flooding)
recovery and significantly higher for tertiary
recovery operations.
• In oil-field operations, emulsion
treatment and emulsion prevention are
equally important. Situations that are
conducive to the formation of tight
emulsions may be avoided
economically. Some of the
recommendations are listed below:
• Solids: Fine solids stabilize emulsions
and efforts should be made to reduce
solid contaminants during production.
These solids include
• Asphaltenes: can be controlled by
effective asphaltene management,
dispersants, etc.
• * Scales: should be reduced by scale
inhibitors
• * Corrosion products: reduced by
using effective corrosion inhibitors.
• Acidization: Stimulation with acids can result in a
very tight emulsion and acid job should be
designed with care and their field performance
should be reviewed .To avoid emulsion upsets
the acid design should incorporate effective
demulsifier’s at high conc.,use of mutual
solvents,avoid commingling and minimize fines
and precipitate during acidization.
• * Wash water : The effect of amount rate and
salinity of wash water on desalter performance
should be investigated
• Carrier solvents: effect of carrier aromatic
solvent on demulsifier activity should be
investigated.
• * Mixing Intensity : Chokes and other
mixing devices should be controlled to
optimize shear and mixing.While a moderate
amount of mixing is necessary and beneficial
severe mixing leads to tight emulsions or
even re emulsification after water separation.
• Pre heaters: An economic analysis should be
performed to investigate the applicability of heating
emulsions for a given situation
• * Mini separators : A portable grid mounted pilot
mini separation plant is useful in conducting
dynamic emulsion separation tests and reduces the
time and effort involved in testing promising
demulsifiers.
• Operational data: operational data should be
maintained for each facility.Optimization of emulsion
treatment programme should be an ongoing activity.