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US 2003/0155307 A1Published application
Demulsification of water-in-oil emulsions
AssigneeExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company
InventorRamesh Varadaraj
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention includes a method for demulsification of water-in-oil emulsions.
Claims18
A method for demulsifying a water-in-oil emulsion comprising the steps of:
- (a) sonicating said emulsion at an energy of about 25 to about 500 watts/cm2;
- (b) separating said emulsion into an oil phase and an aqueous phase;
- and
- (c) recovering said phases.
1 more element
A method for determining the strength of an interfacial film present at the oil-water interface of a water-in-oil emulsion comprising;
- (a) sonicating a series of at least three samples of said water-in-oil emulsion wherein each of said samples is sonicated at an energy of at least about 25 watt/cm2 higher than the preceeding sample;
- (b) separating each of said sonicated water-in-oil emulsion samples into a water phase and an oil phase;
- (c) determining the percent water separated for each of said samples in said series of samples;
- and
- (d) determining said strength of said interfacial film which strength corresponds to the energy of sonication at which the greatest percentage of water from said series of sample is separated from said water-in-oil emulsion by identifying the energy at which the greatest percentage of water was separated.
2 more elements
A method for separation of a water-in-oil emulsion in a process scheme including an on-line sonicator comprising the steps of:
- (a) collecting a water-in-oil emulsion from said process scheme;
- (b) sonicating said emulsion, wherein said emulsion is sonicated in a series of at least three samples and wherein each of said samples is sonicated at an energy of at least about 25 watt/cm2 higher than the preceeding sample;
- (c) separating each of said samples of sonicated water-in-oil emulsion into a water phase and an oil phase;
- (d) determining the percent water separated for each of said samples in said series of samples;
- and
- (e) determining said strength of said interfacial film which strength corresponds to the energy of sonication at which the greatest percentage of water from said series of sample is separated from said water-in-oil emulsion by identifying the energy at which the greatest percentage of water was separated.
- (f) setting the said on-line sonicator to a sonication energy level corresponding to said determined interfacial film strength;
- and
- (g) sonicating said water-in-oil emulsion in said on-line sonicator set to said determined interfacial film strength;
- and
- (h) separating said sonicated emulsion into a layer comprising water and a layer comprising oil.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.