Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil & Gas Development, China University of Petroleum (East China), Ministry of Education, Qingdao 266580, China.
Technology Inspection Center, Shengli Oilfield Company, SINOPEC, Dongying 257000, China.
Molecules. 2022 Mar 28;27(7):2191. doi: 10.3390/molecules27072191.
Various nanoparticles have been applied as chemical demulsifiers to separate the crude-oil-in-water emulsion in the petroleum industry, including graphene oxide (GO). In this study, the Janus amphiphilic graphene oxide (JGO) was prepared by asymmetrical chemical modification on one side of the GO surface with n-octylamine. The JGO structure was verified by Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and contact angle measurements. Compared with GO, JGO showed a superior ability to break the heavy oil-in-water emulsion with a demulsification efficiency reaching up to 98.25% at the optimal concentration (40 mg/L). The effects of pH and temperature on the JGO's demulsification efficiency were also investigated. Based on the results of interfacial dilatational rheology measurement and molecular dynamic simulation, it was speculated that the intensive interaction between JGO and asphaltenes should be responsible for the excellent demulsification performance of JGO. This work not only provided a potential high-performance demulsifier for the separation of crude-oil-in-water emulsion, but also proposed novel insights to the mechanism of GO-based demulsifiers.
各种纳米粒子已被应用于作为化学破乳剂来分离石油工业中的油水乳液，包括氧化石墨烯（GO）。在本研究中，通过在 GO 表面的一侧进行不对称化学修饰用正辛胺制备了 Janus 两亲性氧化石墨烯（JGO）。通过傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）、透射电子显微镜（TEM）和接触角测量验证了 JGO 的结构。与 GO 相比，JGO 表现出更优越的能力来破乳重油-水乳液，在最佳浓度（40mg/L）时的破乳效率高达 98.25%。还研究了 pH 值和温度对 JGO 破乳效率的影响。基于界面扩张流变学测量和分子动力学模拟的结果，推测 JGO 与沥青质之间的强烈相互作用应该是 JGO 具有优异破乳性能的原因。这项工作不仅为油水乳液的分离提供了一种潜在的高性能破乳剂，而且为基于 GO 的破乳剂的机制提供了新的见解。
