Abstract
AbstractAlteration in the environmental conditions will cause a reversed reaction between o/w emulsion and w/o emulsion that has similar advantages of different liquids form on the reversible invert emulsion. The reversible phase inversion of the emulsion has a benefit of dealing with drilling cutting, so the reversible invert emulsion also can be thought used as a drilling fluid. The phase inversion from w/o emulsion to o/w emulsion can be divided into three stages. They are w/o emulsion, w/o/w emulsion, and o/w emulsion. In the w/o emulsion stage, the structure appeared among water droplets when the percentage of the HCl solution (5%) was less than 0.375%. In the w/o/w emulsion stage, the structure among water droplets existed at the beginning of this stage; however, the internal phase and the external phase can interchange their positions during the process. In the third stage, the structures among droplets of the emulsion would be broken and the degree of the dispersion of the oil droplet in the emulsion would increase. The changes in the microstructure, conductivity, electrical stability, standing stability, and the viscosity of the emulsion, which have edified among droplets in the process from w/o emulsion to o/w emulsion, were studied. The result of the microstructure microscopic observation agrees with the result of the electrical stability and viscosity experiments. Moreover, the internal phase and the external phase can interchange positions during the process.
Highlights
An emulsion is a dispersed system wherein a liquid phase is fragmented into droplets and suspended or dispersed in a second phase that is essentially immiscible in the first phase [1]
The percentage of the HCl solution (5%) and the NaOH solution (5%) is determined as 1.0%, which can guarantee the reversible invention that happened for the reversible invert emulsion, which we know from the previous studies
The initial w/o emulsion have high electrical stability of 130 V, after treating the w/o emulsion with HCl solution, it inverts successfully into an o/w with a conductivity of 80 μS cm−1 and an electrical stability of 1 V, after adding 1% NaOH solution to the o/w emulsion, it was observed that the emulsion inverts into a w/o emulsion with the electrical stability increased from 1 to 115 V and the conductivity reduced from 80 to 0 μS cm−1
Summary
An emulsion is a dispersed system wherein a liquid phase ( termed the internal or dispersed phase) is fragmented into droplets and suspended or dispersed in a second phase (termed the external or continuous phase) that is essentially immiscible in the first phase [1]. Stability against coalescence is usually provided by an emulsifier [7,8]. Oil-based muds have complex w/o emulsions and are used as drilling fluids in oil and gas extraction to carry the drilling cuttings out of the well. The understanding of the inversion process of the emulsions is of major importance in the oil industry. This practical example shows the importance of developing emulsion systems, which exhibit the appropriate emulsion type for a specific application. This can be suitably achieved by changing physicochemical parameters, referred to as field
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