General Field Processing Scheme

Emulsions What are emulsions? Types of emulsions Where do they form? Stability of emulsions Challenges during oil production Reservoir and production aspects of emulsions Demulsification: oil-water separation Emulsion treatment programs Recommendations

 Emulsion: An emulsion is a colloidal dispersion of one liquid (disperse phase) in another (continuous phase) Types of Emulsion: Water-in-oil Oil-in-water Complex/multiple emulsions Macroemulsions, size > 0.1 m Microemulsions, size < 0.1 m Oil-field emulsions are water-in-oil macroemulsions

Tightness of the emulsion Specific gravity of oil and produced water Corrosiveness of crude oil, produced water, and casing-head gas Scaling tendencies of the produced water Quantity of the fluid to be treated and percent water in the fluid Paraffin-forming tendencies of the crude oil Desirable operating pressures for equipment Availability of a sales outlet and value of the casingh-head gas produced.

For an emulsion to exist there must be two mutually immiscible liquids, an emulsifying agent, and sufficient agitation to disperse the discontinuous phase into the continuous phase. In oil production, oil and water are the two mutually immiscible liquids. An emulsifying agent in the form of small solid particles, paraffins, asphaltenes, etc., is almost always present in the formation fluids, and sufficient agitation always occurs as fluid makes its way into the well bore, up the tubing, and through the surface choke.

The difference in density between the water and oil phases. The size of dispersed water particles. Viscosity. Interfacial Tension The presence and concentration of emulsifying agents.

The difference in density is one of the factors that determines the rate at which water droplets drop through the continuous oil phase. The greater the difference in density, the more quickly water droplets will settle from the oil phase. The water particle size also affects the rate at which water particles move through the oil phase.

Viscosity plays two primary roles. First, as viscosity increases, more agitation is required to shear water particles down to a smaller average size in the oil phase.
Second, as the viscosity increases, the rate at which water particles move through the oil phase decreases, resulting in less coalescence and increased difficulty in treating.

An emulsifying agent has surface active behaviour. The action of the emulsifier can be visualized as one or more of the following: It decreases the interfacial tension of the water droplet, thus causing smaller droplets to form. The smaller droplets take longer to coalescence into larger droplets, which can settle quickly. It forms a viscous coating on the droplets that keeps them from coalescencing into larger droplets when they collide. Since coalescence is prevented, it takes longer for the small droplets created by agitation to settle out. The emulsifier may be polar molecules, which align themselves in such a manner as to cause an electrical charge on the surface of the droplets. Since the electrical charges repel, two droplets must collide with sufficient force to overcome this repulsion before coalescence to occur.