APPLICATION OF Dalbergiella welwitschii LEAVES EXTRACT IN THE DEMULSIFICATION OF WATER-IN-OIL EMULSIONS

Abstract

The application of Dalbergiella welwistchii leaves extract in breaking a crude oil and water Emulsions was studied. n-Hexane, methanol and distilled water extracts of the leaves were prepared using soxhlet extraction method. The extracts were characterized with GC-MS and the components of the extracts show the presence of lupeol, campesterol, methandrostenolone,butylgallate, terpineo, glycylglycine, n-butoxycarbonyl-, pentafluorophenylmethyl ester, taxifolin, 2-Oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-3-one, 1,7,7-trimethyl-, innossitol, p-cymene, (E)-3(10)-Caren-4-ol, 2,4(1H,3H)-Quinazolinedione, 1-methyl-, quercetin 3’-methyl ether, phenol, coumarin, mesitylene, campesterol methyl ether, terpinen-4-ol, bis(2-butyoxyethyl) phthalate, cyclohexane, 1-methyl-2-propyl-, 2-tolyloxirane, (E)-3(10)-Caren-4-ol, sulfurous acid, 2-ethylhexyl nonyl ester, p-cymene, diethyl benzamidomalonate, fumaric acid nonyl trans-hex-3-enyl ester, 1,1'-diacetoxy-4,4'-dichloro- 5,5',8,8'-tetramethoxy -6,6'-dimethyl-2,2'-binaphthalene, bicyclo[4.2.0]oct-1-ene,7-exoethenyl-, 1,3-cyclopentadiene,1,2,3,4-tetramethy-5-methylene-, 2,2'-bithienyl, 5,5'-bis(trimethylstanyl)-, α-d-glucofuranosyl benzenesulfonate, benzaldehyde, 2H-benzo[f]oxireno[2,3-E]benzofuran-8(9H)-one,9[[[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl] amino] methyl] octahydro-2,5α-dimethyl-, ethyl iso-allocholate, androstane-11,17-dione, 3-[(trimethylsilyl)oxy]-, 17-[O-(phenylmethyl)oxime], (3α,5α)-, 1-Isopropoxy-2,2,3-trimethylaziridine (sin) in various percentages in all the extracts. Basic water percentage test of the emulsion shows that the emulsion contained 65.2% water. The various extracts were prepared as demulsifiers and subjected to demulsification test using different concentrations at room temperature for 60 minutes. A synthetic demulsifier was employed for comparison using the total volume of water separated as a yardstick. Results show that n-hexane extract and methanol extract demulsifiers were able to break water-in-oil Emulsions and these were attributed to the phytochemical components of the extracts while the distilled water extract demulsifier was unable to break the emulsion. The commercial demulsifier employed resolved the emulsion with a percentage higher than that of the n-hexane extract and methanol extract formulated demulsifiers. This was attributed to the dehydrating and other chemical components used in preparing the synthetic demulsifier.