Electro-demulsification of water-in-oil suspensions enhanced with implementing various additives

Abstract

A huge amount of various oily suspensions that frequently display properties of stable emulsions are produced per day in upstream and downstream petroleum industries. As this waste is considered potentially harmful to the environment, their management and disposal require particular attention. While current treatment processes, such as partial water removal via the separation of phases by centrifuging result in decreased waste volumes for disposal, a significant volume of water and oil remains trapped in the form of water-in-oil emulsion. Therefore, the electrokinetic method for oil-water separation came into consideration for the improvement of the quality and volume of separated products. This paper discusses the impacts of additives, namely, ferric chloride, alum, cationic polymer, clay, and a mixture of clay and cationic polymer on the electrokinetic treatment of suspensions. The tests were conducted at a lab scale using an array of steel electrodes and low voltage. The objective of this study was to observe the impact of voltage gradients on electro-demulsification, in conjunction with employing additives into the separation and recovery of water, light, and heavy oil. An optimal recovery of light oil by 28%–52% in addition to heavy oil and water in the presence of ferric chloride under a constant voltage gradient of 1 V/cm, was achieved. Furthermore, the same system revealed an excellent clarity of extracted water. The results from this study can be implemented at a larger scale in upstream and downstream petroleum industries.