Development in separation of oilfield emulsion toward green technology – A comprehensive review

ABSTRACT

The formation and handling of crude oil emulsion during production and processing is a great challenge to the Petroleum Industry. For financial and operational reasons, it is required to separate the water from emulsion before sending the crude to the refinery. There are several methods for demulsification like mechanical, electrical, thermal, membrane and chemical methods. The petroleum industry is needed a fast and economical method to break crude oil emulsions. Presently, Chemical methods are broadly utilized for demulsification purposes. The petroleum industry is attempting toward oil-based surfactants to design demulsifiers for achieving fast water separation. Because of their low biodegradability and toxic nature, those can make hazards to the environment. The new trends have been in the area of green demulsifiers synthesized from natural sources. Manuscript dealt with the advancement toward modern green technology from the classical technology for efficient handling of emulsified crude for demulsification. Different emulsions stability factors and demulsification techniques were broadly discussed. Content cover on chemical methods which are commonly used in Petroleum Industries nowadays. Applicability of natural demulsifiers, development needed in natural demulsifiers, and demulsifier derived from a natural source with their added advantages have also been discussed in this article.

KEYWORDS:

• Emulsion
• demulsification process
• chemical method
• oil-based surfactants
• natural demulsifiers
• biodegradability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).