DEMULSIFIER SELECTION FOR WATER SEPARATION FROM HEAVY CRUDE OIL EMULSIONS OF IRANIAN OIL FIELD

Abstract

In this study, various demulsifiers have been chosen for emulsion separation from heavy Iranian oil. The 16 types of water and oil based demulsifiers were tested using the selection procedure. Further, the current study assessed the effect of parameters like concentration, water cut and residence time on demulsification. Water emulsion separation has been found to be improved with selected oil-based demulsifiers. The results show that the oil based demulsifiers with a pH between 7-8 and dosage more than 100 ppm have more dehydration efficiency. The efficiency of water-based demulsifiers is lower than that of oil-based demulsifiers. Using the Qualitec-4 software, the possibility of increasing the efficiency of the former was investigated. The results show that the selection of water-based demulsifiers, with pH = 7.76, dose = 100, time = 600, had the best performance.

Keywords

• emulsion
• demulsification
• water oil separation
• demulsifiers
• oil base
• water base
• qualitec-4