Authors : Emmanuel J. Ekott and Emmanuel J. Akpabio
Abstract: Stable water-in-oil emulsions may form during the production and transportation of crude oil such as in highly turbulent nozzles and piping. Such emulsions introduce technical challenges as they must be resolved to provide the specified product quality. Emulsion behavior is largely controlled by the properties of the adsorbed layers that stabilize the water-oil surfaces. The complexity of petroleum emulsions comes from the oil composition in terms of surface-active molecules contained in the crude such as resin and asphaltenes. These molecules can interact and reorganize at water-oil interfaces. In order to successfully mitigate, the problems of stable emulsions, a thorough knowledge of component properties, behavior, interactions and effect on water-oil interfacial properties must be developed for pressures and temperatures ranging from ambient to high. Probably, more study on this area will reveal information concerning bulk viscosity, shear properties, mechanism and kinetics of film formation, surfactant adsorption and film rupture that ultimately govern emulsion behavior. The important stabilization mechanisms of emulsions have been identified but the difficulty still lies in the assessment of the relative level of influence that individual mechanisms and variables have over the final stability. This review seeks to bring to light recent findings related to emulsion stability, destabilization and interfacial properties.
Emmanuel J. Ekott and Emmanuel J. Akpabio, 2010. A Review of Water-in-Crude Oil Emulsion Stability, Destabilization and Interfacial Rheology. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 5: 447-452.