Abstract
Tight brine‐in‐oil emulsions and related high viscosities are common oil field problems experienced in mid‐ to late‐life. Emulsions can have a detrimental effect on water separation efficiency, and costs for injection equipment and demulsifier chemicals are high. It is commonly assumed that asphaltenes play a dominant role in emulsion formation, although in some crudes it was found that resins play a role in emulsion formation, especially the carboxylic acids. For the asphaltenes, polarity, and crude oil aromaticity play an important role in their interactions at the oil‐water interface, and to a lesser degree the brine pH. For the resins, pH plays an important role, as carboxylic groups are mostly active when de‐protonated. In this article, we studied the role of asphaltenes in oil/water emulsions by application of Critical Electrical Field measurements in topped oil and de‐asphalted topped oil. The emulsion stability was measured for a range of water cuts (from 2 to 60%), brine pH, temperature, and shear rates.
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