MICROWAVE DEHYDRATOR: AN ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY STEP TOWARD IMPROVING MICROWAVE DEMULSIFICATION OF PETROLEUM EMULSIONS

Abstract

In this research introduces a newly improved method of microwave dehydrator. A system consists of modified domestic microwave oven and silicon based chemical demulsifiers was used to dehydrate two types of petroleum crude oils from Middle East. Silicone based additives which claimed to be nontoxic are used in conjunction with the modified microwave oven. The currently available demulsification techniques that consist mainly of chemicals together with mechanical, heating and electrical methods have some drawbacks, since chemicals are costly and harmful to the environment, mechanical techniques such as gravity settling tank, hydro cyclone vessel, centrifugal separators, and steam stripping are large requiring more space, time and cost, electrical techniques almost always work in a very high voltage that can easily cause fire via short circuit. Therefore, the objective of this project is to introduce the Microwave Dehydrator (MD) as a step forward to the commercialization of the microwave treatment of petroleum based emulsions. This is to replace or reduce the use of chemical dehydrators in the oil field. Simulated experimental model emulsions of various crude oils were produced to mimic the real emulsions. From previous articles, the optimal parameters to produce w/o emulsions of heavy crude oils were 0.25% (v/v) emulsifier’s concentration (Span 80) with mixing speed of 1600 rpm for 7 minutes mixing time. In this study, experimental stable emulsion were prepared from two different crude oils namely, Saudi Arabia (SA) and Kuwait, the water content in the emulsion was varied (20-80% and 50-50%), as well as the concentration of the additives (0.05 and 0.1%), results was discussed in terms of temperature, heat generation, and dielectric properties as well as water resolution. The results of the this research showed that, for 50-50% Kuwait oil emulsions, the optimal formulation was 0.1% additive and 2 minutes irradiation time gave the maximum water separation of 87%, while for 20-80% Kuwait oil emulsions, 0.1% additives and 2 minutes irradiation time had given the maximum separation of 52%. Furthermore, for Saudi Arabia crude emulsions, 50-50% w/o emulsions with 0.1% additive and 1.5 irradiation time had given the maximum separation of 85%. While for 20-80% w/o emulsions, 0.1% additive and 2 minutes irradiation time had given the maximum separation of 62%. Fundamentally the basic mechanism behind the effectiveness of microwave demulsification is that the electromagnetic wave that induce the water molecules to move as trying to rearrange themselves with the wave in two distinct mechanisms, known as ionic conduction and dipole rotation that would eventually convert the wave energy into heat generated within the water molecules. These results proved that microwave dehydrator can reduce the usage of chemical demulsifiers, as well as processing time and environmental issues.