SEPARATION OF STABLE WATER-OIL EMULSION USING ULTRASONIC ACTION

摘要

The influence of ultrasonic action on water-oil emulsion breaking is investigated and the optimum parameters of this process are determined. The investigations are conducted on water-oil emulsion samples from water treatment tanks of the Kamennyi Log field oil treatment unit of the Oil and Gas Production Division No. 4 (LUKOIL PLC, Perm, Russia). The existing stable water-oil emulsion treatment technology at the facility involves thermochemical action with heating up to 80 degrees C and addition of a demulsifier in a dose of 200 g/ton of oil. It is shown that the average water droplet size in water-oil emulsion changes little upon ultrasonic treatment (UST). Direct dependence of water-oil emulsion breaking efficiency on specific temporary acoustic power is not observed. Conditions develop in the emulsion medium upon action of acoustic vibrations for coalescence of disperse medium droplets and demulsification occurs more actively than on conventional heating and addition of demulsifier. For extrastable water-oil emulsion, the specific acoustic power is found to be 73-75 W/dm(3), at which the disperse phase is scattered, upon which, however, the stability of the emulsion decreases, as evidenced by stratification of the extrastable water-oil emulsion after UST (after heating and addition of a substantial quantity of emulsifier, the emulsion sample does not break up for 24 h and longer).