Methods and systems for demulsification and generation of plasma enhanced treatment fluids using plasma

A demulsification system, comprising

• at least one plasma reactor with a body forming a reaction chamber and at least one first and second electrode exposed in the reaction chamber defining an inter-electrode discharge gap therebetween, a gas inlet for introducing at least one carrier gas into the reaction chamber, a port for introducing a volume of emulsion into the reaction chamber, and a control system and power supply energizing the at least first and second electrodes at or in excess of the dielectric breakdown voltage of the at least one carrier gas to generate plasma in the reaction chamber to demulsify the emulsion introduced into the reaction chamber into constituents, and a port for removing the separated constituents from the reaction chamber.

A method of producing plasma enhanced treatment fluids for oil recovery, comprising providing at least one plasma reactor with at least one first and second electrode exposed in a reaction chamber defining an inter-electrode discharge gap therebetween, introducing an oil emulsion and at least one carrier gas into the reaction chamber, energizing the at least first and second electrodes at or in excess of the dielectric breakdown voltage of the at least one carrier gas to generate plasma in the reaction chamber to generate plasma enhanced treatment fluids, and removing the plasma enhanced treatment fluids from the reaction chamber.