Study on Crude Oil and its Emulsification Characteristics

Abstract

Crude oil entering the sea will be caused change in tension, viscosity, volume and etc. This process is called emulsification of crude oil. This paper found that the density of crude oil with asphalt content 7% increase with the increase of emulsification and decreases gradually with temperature increment during emulsification through experiments in laboratory. Tension and viscosity of crude oil increase with emulsification, but it decrease with temperature rise. The study found that the wind speed > 3.5 m/s is conducive to crude oil volatilization, and also found that the continuous volatilization of thick oil film is greater than that of thin oil film under the same wind speed in laboratory. Under natural conditions, it was found that when the wind speeds was less than 2 m/s, the temperature had greater effect on evaporation (air temperature >32 °C ) and the volatilization increased with the increase of air temperature for crude oil. Emulsification and weathering characteristics of crude oil with different content of asphalt content are studied; it is helpful to monitor offshore oil leakage by remote sensing.