Water Content Monitoring in Water-in-Crude-Oil Emulsions Using an Ultrasonic Multiple-Backscattering Sensor.

Alberto L Durán,Nicolás Pérez,Flávio Buiochi,Carlos A B Reyna,Ediguer E Franco,Marcos S G Tsuzuki

doi:10.3390/s21155088

Abstract

This work shows the application of an ultrasonic multiple-scattering sensor for monitoring water-in-petroleum emulsions. The sensor consists of a commercial ultrasonic transducer with an array of cylindrical scatterers placed in the near field. The scatterers are thin metal bars arranged in rows in front of the transducer. The backscattering signals were analyzed by calculating the wave energy and by a cross-correlation between signal segments; they were also used to determine the propagation velocity in the emulsions. The tests performed used emulsions with water volume concentrations from 0% to 50%. The results showed that both the signal energy and propagation velocity strongly depended on the concentration of water in the emulsion. Therefore, the ultrasonic multiple-scattering sensor can be used for on-line and real-time monitoring of the water content in water-in-crude-oil emulsions.

Highlights

An emulsion is a mixture of two immiscible liquids, where one liquid is dispersed in the other in the form of small drops
We report the application of a multiple-scattering ultrasonic sensor for monitoring water-in-crude-oil emulsions
The normalized relative cross-correlation (Rr ) and the relative wave energy (Er ) as a function of time are plotted in Figure 3a,b, respectively

Summary

Introduction

An emulsion is a mixture of two immiscible liquids, where one liquid is dispersed in the other in the form of small drops. Water-in-oil (W/O) and oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions are present in different industrial products and processes. Examples of final products in emulsion form include homogenized milk [1] and the cutting fluids used for machining processes [2]. There are some processes in which the raw or intermediate product is an emulsion, such as palm oil [3] and petroleum production [4]. Some physical properties of the emulsion are relevant for controlling and improving the industrial process. The main property is likely the volume fraction of the constituent liquids (phases), because other properties, such as the emulsion type (W/O or O/W), stability, density, absorptivity, viscosity, etc., strongly depend on the volume fraction

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Conclusion