Phase water

During storage, sediments decant with the water phase and deposit along with paraffins and asphalts in the bottoms of storage tanks as thick sludges or slurries (BS W). The interface between the water-sediment and the crude must be well monitored in order to avoid pumping the slurry into the refinery s operating units where it can cause serious upsets. 

Surface tension arises at a fluid to fluid interface as a result of the unequal attraction between molecules of the same fluid and the adjacent fluid. For example, the molecules of water in a water droplet surrounded by air have a larger attraction to each other than to the adjacent air molecules. The imbalance of forces creates an inward pull which causes the droplet to become spherical, as the droplet minimises its surface area. A surface tension exists at the interface of the water and air, and a pressure differential exists between the water phase and the air. The pressure on the water side is greater due to the net inward forces... 

Inside the capillary tube, the capillary pressure (P ) is the pressure difference between the oil phase pressure (PJ and the water phase pressure (P ) at the interface between the oil and the water. 

Finally, it is worth remembering the sequence of events which occur during hydrocarbon accumulation. Initially, the pores in the structure are filled with water. As oil migrates into the structure, it displaces water downwards, and starts with the larger pore throats where lower pressures are required to curve the oil-water interface sufficiently for oil to enter the pore throats. As the process of accumulation continues the pressure difference between the oil and water phases increases above the free water level because of the density difference between the two fluids. As this happens the narrower pore throats begin to fill with oil and the smallest pore throats are the last to be filled. 

Where space and weight are considerations (such as on an offshore facility) plate separators may be used to dehydrate crude to evacuation specification. Packs of plates are used to accelerate extraction of the water phase by intercepting water droplets with... 

Hydrocylones have become common on offshore facilities and rely on centrifugal force to separate light oil particles from the heavier water phase. As the inlet stream is centrifuged oil particles move to the centre of the cyclone, coalesce and are drawn off upwards, while the heavier water is taken out at the bottom. 

It is quite clear, first of all, that since emulsions present a large interfacial area, any reduction in interfacial tension must reduce the driving force toward coalescence and should promote stability. We have here, then, a simple thermodynamic basis for the role of emulsifying agents. Harkins [17] mentions, as an example, the case of the system paraffin oil-water. With pure liquids, the inter-facial tension was 41 dyn/cm, and this was reduced to 31 dyn/cm on making the aqueous phase 0.00 IM in oleic acid, under which conditions a reasonably stable emulsion could be formed. On neutralization by 0.001 M sodium hydroxide, the interfacial tension fell to 7.2 dyn/cm, and if also made O.OOIM in sodium chloride, it became less than 0.01 dyn/cm. With olive oil in place of the paraffin oil, the final interfacial tension was 0.002 dyn/cm. These last systems emulsified spontaneously—that is, on combining the oil and water phases, no agitation was needed for emulsification to occur. 

In contrast to SDS, CTAB and C12E7, CufDSjz micelles catalyse the Diels-Alder reaction between 1 and 2 with enzyme-like efficiency, leading to rate enhancements up to 1.8-10 compared to the reaction in acetonitrile. This results primarily from the essentially complete complexation off to the copper ions at the micellar surface. Comparison of the partition coefficients of 2 over the water phase and the micellar pseudophase, as derived from kinetic analysis using the pseudophase model, reveals a higher affinity of 2 for Cu(DS)2 than for SDS and CTAB. The inhibitory effect resulting from spatial separation of la-g and 2 is likely to be at least less pronoimced for Cu(DS)2 than for the other surfactants. 

The wet ester is distilled in the dehydration column using high reflux to remove a water phase overhead. The dried bottoms are distilled in the product column to provide high purity acrylate. The bottoms from the product column are stripped to recover values and the final residue incinerated. Alternatively, the bottoms maybe recycled to the ester reactor or to the bleed stripper. 

Initiators of suspension polymerization are organic peroxides or azo compounds that are soluble in the monomer phase but insoluble in the water phase. The amount of initiator influences both the polymerization rate and the molecular weight of the product (95). 

Suspension polymerization of VDE in water are batch processes in autoclaves designed to limit scale formation (91). Most systems operate from 30 to 100°C and are initiated with monomer-soluble organic free-radical initiators such as diisopropyl peroxydicarbonate (92—96), tert-huty peroxypivalate (97), or / fZ-amyl peroxypivalate (98). Usually water-soluble polymers, eg, cellulose derivatives or poly(vinyl alcohol), are used as suspending agents to reduce coalescence of polymer particles. Organic solvents that may act as a reaction accelerator or chain-transfer agent are often employed. The reactor product is a slurry of suspended polymer particles, usually spheres of 30—100 pm in diameter they are separated from the water phase thoroughly washed and dried. Size and internal stmcture of beads, ie, porosity, and dispersant residues affect how the resin performs in appHcations. 

L tex Foa.m Rubber. Latex foam mbber was the first ceUular polymer to be produced by frothing. (/) A gas is dispersed in a suitable latex 2) the mbber latex particles are caused to coalesce and form a continuous mbber phase in the water phase (7) the aqueous soap film breaks owing to... 

The fluid is formulated from a premium mineral od-base stock that is blended with the required additive to provide antiwear, mst and corrosion resistance, oxidation stabdity, and resistance to bacteria or fungus. The formulated base stock is then emulsified with ca 40% water by volume to the desired viscosity. Unlike od-in-water emulsions the viscosity of this type of fluid is dependent on both the water content, the viscosity of the od, and the type of emulsifier utilized. If the water content of the invert emulsion decreases as a result of evaporation, the viscosity decreases likewise, an increase in water content causes an increase in the apparent viscosity of the invert emulsion at water contents near 50% by volume the fluid may become a viscous gel. A hydrauHc system using a water-in-od emulsion should be kept above the freezing point of water if the water phase does not contain an antifreeze. Even if freezing does not occur at low temperatures, the emulsion may thicken, or break apart with subsequent dysfunction of the hydrauHc system. 

Fractionation. Direct fractionation also can be used to remove dissolved water from LPG. The water-rich overhead vapor from the dryer fractionator is returned to the fractionator as reflux and the water phase is discarded. A dry LPG product that meets either propane or butane water specifications is produced as a ketde product from the fractionator. 

Water-Based Muds. About 85% of all drilling fluids are water-based systems. The types depend on the composition of the water phase (pH, ionic content, etc), viscosity builders (clays or polymers), and rheological control agents (deflocculants or dispersants (qv)). 

Although numerous mud additives aid in obtaining the desired drilling fluid properties, water-based muds have three basic components water, reactive soHds, and inert soHds. The water forming the continuous phase may be fresh water, seawater, or salt water. The reactive soHds are composed of commercial clays, incorporated hydratable clays and shales from drilled formations, and polymeric materials, which may be suspended or dissolved in the water phase. SoHds, such as barite and hematite, are chemically inactive in most mud systems. Oil and synthetic muds contain, in addition, an organic Hquid as the continuous phase plus water as the discontinuous phase. 

Bina System. The first task is to examine the characteristics of the 2-propanol-water-phase equiUbria (VLE, LLE, SEE) to determine the compositions of interest and any critical features. 2-Propanol forms a minimum boiling a2eotrope with water (80.4°C at 101.3 kPa (760 tort), 68 mol % 2-propanol). The a2eotrope is between the feed and the IPA product and is a distillation boundary, thus it is impossible to obtain both desired products from any single-feed... 

Fig. 1. Binary soap—water phase diagram for sodium palmitate (4). Courtesy of Academic Press, Ltd.

It would be incomplete for any discussion of soap crystal phase properties to ignore the colloidal aspects of soap and its impact. At room temperature, the soap—water phase diagram suggests that the soap crystals should be surrounded by an isotropic Hquid phase. The colloidal properties are defined by the size, geometry, and interconnectiviness of the soap crystals. Correlations between the coUoid stmcture of the soap bar and the performance of the product are somewhat quaUtative, as there is tittle hard data presented in the literature. However, it might be anticipated that smaller crystals would lead to a softer product. Furthermore, these smaller crystals might also be expected to dissolve more readily, leading to more lather. Translucent and transparent products rely on the formation of extremely small crystals to impart optical clarity. 

Sulfonates for Enhanced Oil Recovery. The use of hydrocarbon sulfonates for reducing the capillary forces in porous media containing cmde oil and water phases was known as far back as 1927—1931 (164,165). Interfacial tensions between 10 and 10 N/m or less were estabUshed as necessary for the mobilization and recovery of cmde oil (166—169). 

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