Synthesis and application of castor oil maleate and castor oil maleate-styrene copolymers as demulsifier for water-in-oil emulsions

Abstract

Oil industry has encountered a series of difficulties associated with flow assurance of petroleum fluids, especially those related with stable emulsion formation. Such emulsified systems could present problems during transportation, handling, and refining, because of their relation to operational factors, as follows: fluid viscosity, processing energy expenditure, and water coproduction. For this reason, the addition of interfacial active compounds, often polymers, is used in an attempt to phase separation in industrial processes. In this paper, five different chemical surfactants, referred to here as MACO 1, MACO 2, R1, R2, and R3, were synthesized based on castor oil. These additives were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Size-Exclusion Chromatography (SEC), and Thermogravimetrical Analyses (TGA). The demulsification activity was studied in synthetic emulsions by using two Brazilian crude oils and 30% (v/v) brine cut with 60 and 240 g/L NaCl, at neutral pH, and average droplet diameter of 10 μm. Bottle tests were carried out at 60 °C in graduated ASTM test tubes for 2 h, varying additive concentration from 100 to 5000 ppm. Interfacial tension measurements were performed to elucidate the demulsification activity in water-oil interface, at the same bottle test experimental conditions. These results were discussed on the basis of the oil characterization, mechanisms of demulsifying action, as well as interfacial tension data. Ward and Tordai equation was applied according to asymptotic approximations to evaluate additives diffusivity. The results show that demulsification is more significant for MACO 1, with maximum water resolution of around 90% for both emulsion systems.