Commercial emulsion-breaking products

Two examples of commercial emulsion-breaking products supplied by one chemical company are provided in Table I. Product 1 in Table I was found to be applicable in some paraffinic crude oils of medium to high API gravity. Product 2 was found to be applicable in some heavy asphaltic crude oils with significant amounts of inorganic solids present. 

Table I. Composition of Two Commercial Emulsion-Breaking Products...

If chemical treatment was not previously used, a chemical that performs well in a similar crude oil and system should be selected for use as a standard. The relative improvement in performance over the standard must be the criterfon for selection of new candidate chemicals. In larger installations that are experiencing severe emulsion problems, many (possibly hundreds) of commercialized emulsion-breaking products or experimental... 

Very finely divided wax emulsions are effective concrete dampproofing agents and are formulated so that the emulsion breaks down after contact with the alkaline concrete environment and forms a hydrophobic layer. Waxes of melting point 57-60°C are used with an emulsifying agent based on sorbitan monostearate or ethoxylated sorbitan monostearate [2], The properties of a commercial product are given in Table 4.4 [5],... 

IMULSIONS OF OIL AND WATER are one of many problems directly associated with the petroleum industry, in both oil-field production and refinery environments. Whether these emulsions are created inadvertently or are unavoidable, as in the oil-field production area, or are deliberately induced, as in refinery desalting operations, the economic necessity to eliminate emulsions or maximize oil-water separation is present. Furthermore, the economics of oil-water separation dictate the labor, resources, and monies dedicated to this issue. Before we describe the methods and economics of emulsion breaking at commercial facilities, we will restate several key concepts concerning emulsions and the petroleum industry. 

Macro- and miniemulsions are thermodynamically unstable. If not stabilized, the droplets tend to fiocculate, coalesce, sediment or cream [2-4]. Other instabilities, such as Ostwald ripening and phase inversion, are also known. At worst, an emulsion will break, i.e. the two phases will separate completely. A product becoming unstable will lose its quality within a short period of time and thus cannot be commercialized. Therefore, even in natural emulsion-based products, amphiphilic molecules are found (e.g. lecithin and proteins in egg yolk and milk and artificial surfactants and emulsifiers in cosmetics and chemical products. They adsorb at the droplets interfaces and stabilize them against flocculation and coalescence. Adsorption and stabilization mechanisms depend on the molecular structure of a surfactant or an emulsifier as depicted in Figure 20.1. Stabilization mechanisms are summarized in... 

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