Petroleum production, emulsions

Petroleum is typically described in terms of its physical properties (such as density and pour point) and chemical composition (such as percent composition of various petroleum hydrocarbons, asphaltenes, and sulfur). Although very complex in makeup, crude can be broken down into four basic classes of petroleum hydrocarbons. Each class is distinguished on the basis of molecular composition. In addition, properties important for characterizing the behavior of petroleum and petroleum products when spilled into waterways or onto land and/or released into the air include flash point, density (read specific gravity and/or API gravity), viscosity, emulsion formation in waterways, and adhesion to soil. 

The properties of asphalt emulsions (ASTM D977, D2397) allow a variety of uses. As with other petroleum products, sampling is an important precursor to asphalt analysis, and a standard method (ASTM D140) is available that provides guidance for the sampling of asphalts, liquid and semisolid, at point of manufactnre, storage, or delivery. 

Many uses of dextran in petroleum production have been proposed. It has been tested successfully for use in drilling muds,354,355 and in viscous water-flooding.356,357 The patent literature332 suggests that the native, high-molecular-weight dextran is now used in various proprietary, X-ray and photographic emulsions. 

Petroleum production from subterranean reservoirs can be increased by injecting water as liquid or steam. Various chemicals have been added to the water or steam to increase volumetric sweep efficiency. One alternative is the use of emulsions which serve as diverting agents to correct the override and channeling problems that occur during fluid injection. Laboratory results show that it may be possible to control channeling and steam override with an emulsion blocking technique. The emulsion can be formed with the aid of a surfactant mixture or by use of natural surfactants that exist in some crude oils. Core-... 

To maximize the cost-effectiveness of petroleum production and refining processes and to achieve required quality parameters of oil, water, and crude-oil contaminants, it is often necessary to resolve emulsions to promote complete separation of the oil, water, and inorganic solids present. Breaking... 

This glossary provides brief explanations for nearly 200 important terms in the science and engineering of petroleum emulsions. The field of petroleum emulsions encompasses aspects of so many different disciplines that there exists a voluminous body of terminology. A selection of frequently encountered terms has been made including scientific terms related to the basic principles and properties of emulsions, and petroleum production and processing terms used to describe practical emulsions and their treatment. In addition, cross-references for the more important synonyms and abbreviations are included. 

JMULSIONS CAN BE FOUND IN ALMOST EVERY PART of the petroleum production and recovery process in reservoirs, produced at wellheads, in many parts of the refining process, and in transportation pipelines. In each case the presence and nature of emulsions can determine both the economic and technical successes of the industrial process concerned. This book is intended to provide an introduction to the nature, occurrence, handling, formation, and breaking of petroleum emulsions. The primary focus is on the applications of the principles and includes attention to practical emulsion problems. 

This book is aimed at scientists and engineers who may encounter petroleum emulsions, whether in process design, petroleum production, or in the research and development fields. It does not assume a knowledge of colloid chemistry, the initial emphasis being placed on a review of the basic... 

The chemical composition and physical properties of the different types of oil are described in Chapter 3. The oils that are used in this book to illustrate the fate, behaviour, and cleanup of oil spills are introduced. These represent the primary oil and petroleum products used and spilled. They are gasoline, diesel fuel, a light crude oil, a heavy crude oil, an intermediate fuel oil (IFO) which is made from a heavy residual oil and diesel fuel, a residual oil, sometimes called Bunker fuel, and crude oil emulsion. 

Polymer solutions and melts, residual oils, rubber solutions, many petroleum products, paper pulps, biological fluids (blood, plasma), pharmaceutical compounds (emulsions, creams, and pastes), various food products (fats and sour cream) can serve as examples of pseudoplastic fluids. Dilatant properties are mainly exhibited by high-concentration or coarse-disperse systems (such as... 

Petroleum which penetrates into natural waters undergoes various changes. About 40% of petroleum is sedimented, 40% resides in water in the form of an emulsion and 20% forms a surface film. The processes of the self-cleaning of water flows containing petroleum are very slow and the bacterial oxidation of petroleum products at the bottom is slower by a factor of about 10 as compared to this process on the surface. The conversions of petroleum components in water is greatly affected by temperature. At... 

It was shown that in the presence of oil-soluble surfactants, stable foams are formed at a certain water content in diesel fuel, and maximum stability is achieved at a relatively low aqueous phase concentration (1% - 2%) corresponding to the transition of the solubilised solution to an inverted emulsion [265] with increasing viscosity of the surfactant solutions in the diesel fuel, the foam stability increases substantially. These ideas can be used when considering foam formation in other petroleum products containing small amounts of water and natural surfactants. 

Many emulsion-based formulations also contain solid particles. Typical examples are food products, such as margarine and salad dressing or petroleum products, such as crude oil emulsions or bitumen emulsions. 

In terms of its understanding of emulsions and emulsification, the oil-spill industry has not kept pace wifli flie petroleum production industry and colloid science generally. Workers in the spill industry often revert to old papers published in oil-spill literature, which is frequently incorrect and reflects very old knowledge. A basic understanding of the formation, stability, and processes of emulsions is now evident in literature in both the colloid science and oil-spill fields, although some new papers still appear with references to 15-year-old literature and no newer literature. 

S Puskas, J Balazs, T Haraszti, L Turi, I Dekany. The influence of paraffinic deposits and their fractions on the stability of cmde oil emulsions. Petroleum abstracts 1st SPE Brazil Sect et al., Colloid Chemistry in Oil Production, Ash-phaltenes Wax Deposition International Symposium, Proceedings 230—235, Abstract no. 627, 639, Vol 36, no. 28, 1996. 

The process was previously used for ehlorine compounds represented by perchloroethylene and trichloroethylene and for fluorine compounds used for cleaning of press stamped metal parts. However, these compounds are now prohibited for use and production by environmental regulations. The current replacements include emulsions, organic and inorganic solutions, etc. Cycloparafiins originating from petroleum products were quali-... 

The °Co y-source was utilized for studies of water polluted with petroleum products. For this purpose, a heterogeneous system of water-petroleum products was studied. The total concentration of all petroleum products was 150 mg dm in the form of an emulsion in bulk water or as a film on the water surface. The removal of petroleum products was studied by monitoring chemical oxygen demand, optical absorbance in the UV-Visible and IR regions, and by... 

Lissant (3) in a recent review indicated that the occurrence of emulsion is a natural and all pervasive phenomenon in petroleum production and emulsions are to be avoided if possible. He further reported that a considerable amount of literature on the development of techniques for resolving emulsions can be found and that this technology should be taken into consideration when emulsification is deliberately employed to achieve additional oil recovery. 

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