Abstract
The oscillatory spinning drop method has been proven recently to be an accurate technique to measure dilational interfacial rheological properties. It is the only available equipment for measuring dilational moduli in low interfacial tension systems, as it is the case in applications dealing with surfactant-oil-water three-phase behavior like enhanced oil recovery, crude oil dehydration, or extreme microemulsion solubilization. Different systems can be studied, bubble-in-liquid, oil-in-water, microemulsion-in-water, oil-in-microemulsion, and systems with the presence of complex natural surfactants like asphaltene aggregates or particles. The technique allows studying the characteristics and properties of water/oil interfaces, particularly when the oil contains asphaltenes and when surfactants are present. In this work, we present a review of the measurements of crude oil-brine interfaces with the oscillating spinning drop technique. The review is divided into four sections. First, an introduction on the oscillating spinning drop technique, fundamental and applied concepts are presented. The three sections that follow are divided according to the complexity of the systems measured with the oscillating spinning drop, starting with simple surfactant-oil-water systems. Then the complexity increases, presenting interfacial rheology properties of crude oil-brine systems, and finally, more complex surfactant-crude oil-brine systems are reviewed. We have found that using the oscillating spinning drop method to measure interfacial rheology properties can help make precise measurements in a reasonable amount of time. This is of significance when systems with long equilibration times, e.g., asphaltene or high molecular weight surfactant-containing systems are measured, or with systems formulated with a demulsifier which is generally associated with low interfacial tension.
Highlights
The spinning drop technique has been extensively used to study surfactant-oil-water (SOW) systems since the 1970s when it was used at the University of Texas to measure the very low interfacial tension required for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) [1,2,3,4]
Interfacial tension decreases when asphaltene concentration is increased, presenting a breakpoint related to the reorganization of the interfacial film and forming a 3D asphaltenes structure [59,78,86]
The method most used for the study of dilational interfacial rheological properties have been the oscillating pendant drop and longitudinal waves, and new equipment has been developed, these techniques cannot be used in systems with low or ultralow interfacial tensions
Summary
The spinning drop technique has been extensively used to study surfactant-oil-water (SOW) systems since the 1970s when it was used at the University of Texas to measure the very low interfacial tension required for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) [1,2,3,4]. Colloids Interfaces 2021, 5, 42 where γ is the interfacial tension in mN/m, d is the cylindrical droplet diameter in mm, Δρ is the difference of the densities of the two phases in g/mL, and ω the angular velocity in rev/msec [7]. 1. Spinning drop in the tensiometer capillary indicating the parameters to calculate interfacial tension: the densities of the two phases ρA and ρB, the drop diameter d,necessary and the rotational interfacial tension: the densities of the two phases ρ and ρ. REVIEW tension from the simplified Vonnegut equation [7]
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