JAIPUR NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

EMULSIFICATION PROCESS AND

DE-EMULSIFICATION
TECHNIQUES
SUBMITTED TO Mrs. Kalpana sharma
Dr. Sudhir Garg

PRESENTED BYDeovrat Kumar (7CH-09)

CONTENT

Emulsion and de-emulsion

Water in oil emulsion
Types of emulsion
Formation of emulsion
De-emulsion
De-stablizing emulsion
Mechanism involved in de-emulsification
Methods of emulsion breaking
Desalter and other methods

Emulsion And Emulsification

An emulsion is a dispersion (droplets) of

one liquid in another immiscible liquid.
The phase that is present in the form of
droplets is the dispersed or internal
phase, and the phase in which the
droplets are suspended is called the
continuous or external phase.
Emulsion occur in almost all phases of
oil production and processing.

Water in Oil Emulsion

Types Of Emulsion
Produced oilfield emulsions can
beclassified into three broad groups:
Water-in-oil
Oil-in-water
Multiple or complex emulsions

Formation Of Emulsion

De-emulsification

De-emulsification is the breaking of a

crude oil emulsion into oil and water
phases. Three aspects of deemulsification:
Rate or the speed at which this
separation takes place
Amount of water left in the crude oil after
separation
Quality of separated water for disposal

De-stabilizing Emulsions:

Temperature
Agitation or shear
Residence Time
Solids Removal
Control of Emulsifying Agent
Retrofitting

Mechanism Involved in
De-emulsification:

Flocculation or Aggregation
Coalescence
Sedimentation or Creaming

Methods Of Emulsion Breaking or

De-emulsification:

Adding Chemical Demulsifies

Increasing the Temperature of the
Emulsion
Applying Electrostatic Fields That
Promote Coalescence
Reducing the Flow Velocity That Allow
Gravitational Separation of Oil And
Water

De-emulsification methods are application

specific because of the wide variety of crude
oils, brines, separation equipment, chemical
demulsifies, and product specifications
The most common method of emulsion
treatment is the application of heat and an
appropriate chemical demulsifies to promote
destabilization, followed by a settling time
with electrostatic grids to promote
gravitational separation.

Thermal Methods: Heating reduces the oil

viscosity and increases the water-settling rates
Mechanical Methods:
Free-Water Knockout Drums: Free-water
knockout drums separate the free water from
the crude oil/water mixture
Production Traps or Three-Phase
Separators: Three-phase separators or
production traps are used to separate the
produced fluids into oil, water, and gas.

Desalters : are normally designed as

either one-stage or multistage
desalters . Generally, desalters use a
combination of chemical addition,
electrostatic treating, and settling
time.

Electrical Methods: Electrostatic grids

are sometimes used for emulsion
treatment. High-voltage electricity
(electrostatic grids) is often an effective
means of breaking emulsions

Chemical Methods: The most common

method of emulsion treatment is adding
demulsifies.
These chemicals are designed to
neutralize the stabilizing effect of
emulsifying agents.
Flocculants are chemicals that flocculate
the water droplets and facilitate
coalescence

Mixing/Agitation: For the demulsifies

to work effectively, it must make intimate
contact with the emulsion and reach the
oil/water interface.
Dosage: The amount of chemical added
is also important. Too little demulsifies
will leave the emulsion unresolved.
Conversely, a large dose of demulsifies
(an over treat condition) may be
detrimental. Because demulsifies are
surface-active agents like the emulsifiers

Reference:

petrowiki.org/Oil_emulsions
petrowiki.org/Oil_demulsification

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