Investigating the performance of bio-based demulsifiers for the demulsification of Nigerian crude oils

Abstract

Commercial demulsifiers used by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are not biodegradable, making it paramount to seek bio-demulsifiers that can be produced in Nigeria from Nigerian vegetable seed oils. In this study, three demulsifiers were produced from Nigerian vegetable seed oils namely; Neem seeds, Mahogany seeds and Calabash seeds in concentrations ranging from 0.5-2.5 mL/10 mL of emulsion. These demulsifiers were tested under the same condition as the common commercial ones used in NNPC for static, dynamic, thermal and basic sediment and water removal. They all performed very well except for the dynamic test, which had low performance. The calabash demulsifier had a high performance of 80% same as the commercial on static test followed by Neem with 75%. The dynamic test recorded low results with the Neem demulsifier at 45% as the highest among the bio-demulsifiers and the commercial demulsifier recorded at 78%. On thermal tests, Calabash tied with commercial demulsifier at 80% followed by Neem demulsifier with 75%. In the basic sediment and water test, the Neem demulsifier had 75% while the commercial had 78%. They are, therefore, good enough to replace commercial demulsifiers. Keywords: Bio-Based, Demulsifiers, Demulsification, Investigating, Performance, Nigerian Crude oils