Application of Different Groups of Demulsifier In Water In oil Emulsion

Crude oil is always produced with water. This association causes many problems during oil production, arising from the formation of emulsion. To overcome this issue, a synthetic surfactant, aka demulsifiers, is formulated to break the emulsion. Emulsion, a mixture of liquids with no mutual solubility between them is usually present as droplets of one liquid distributed in other continuous phase. Demulsifiers acts as an emulsion breaker, where they are able to separate the water-oil emulsions to their respective phases. There are many types of demulsifiers formulation where they may be divided into four main type of group for the oil and gas industries. This include; polymer, amines, alcohol and polyhydric alcohol. Demulsifier main function is to reduce the interfacial tension properties of the emulsion. This in turn helps break the emulsion into their respective phases. Demulsification formulation is also dictated by the properties of the crude oil. Demulsification formulation is tailor made for individual type of crude. Therefore, choosing the right demulsifiers formulation is important to give an effective separation of emulsion in crude oil processing. The objective of this review is to examine the different groups of demulsifiers used as surfactant for the removal/breakdown of emulsion from crude oil processing. Polymeric demulsifiers are found to be more suitable for water-in-oil emulsion, while the other 3 mention above are suitable for oil-in-water emulsion.