Interfacial Film Analysis

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Factors affecting oil emulsion stability
Therefore interfacial films are due to emulsion stability, so it is necessary to understand the dactorws which affect the interfacial films. Which are mentioned below in details [2][3][4][6][7]:
 Heavy polar fractions in the crude oil
 Solids, including organic (asphaltenes, waxes) and inorganic (clays, scales, corrosion products, etc.) materials
 Temperature
 Droplet size and droplet-size distribution
 pH of the brine; and brine composition

1. Heavy polar fraction in crude oil
Naturally occurring emulsifiers are concentrated in the higher-boiling polar fraction of the crude oil.[2][3][4][6][7][8][9] These include:
 Asphaltenes
 Resins
 Oil-soluble organic acids (e.g., naphthenic, carboxylic) and bases
These compounds are the main constituents of the interfacial films surrounding the water droplets that give emulsions their stability.
Asphaltenes
Below figure shown asphaltene stabilized with water droplet. The film which creates between asphaltene and water acts as a barrier to prevent coalescence.
The molecules at the oil/water interface result in an increase in both the interfacial viscosity and the apparent viscosity of the oil in the film between the …show more content…

Fig. 13 shows the effect of a bicarbonate brine and distilled water on emulsion stability as a function of pH.[3] Optimal pH for water separation changes from approximately 10 for distilled water to between 6 and 7 for the brine solution because of an ionization effect (association/interaction of ions present in the brine with the asphaltenes). The study suggests that for most crude oil/brine systems an optimum pH range exists for which the interfacial film exhibits minimum emulsion-stabilizing or maximum emulsion-breaking properties. The optimum pH for maximum emulsion stability depends on both the crude oil and brine compositions. The latter seems to be more

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