Painuly Rahul, Anand Vikky
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, Karwar, Jodhpur 342030, India.
Rishabh Centre for Research and Innovation in Clean Energy, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, Karwar, Jodhpur 342030, India.
Langmuir. 2024 Aug 20;40(33):17710-17721. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c02115. Epub 2024 Aug 9.
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is utilized in the oil and gas production industry to extract additional oil from underground reservoirs. In chemically enhanced oil recovery, surfactant and polymeric water are injected separately or in a mixture. Injected fluids can form stable emulsions during oil production. This surfactant, polymer-loaded water-in-oil emulsion, must be separated to treat crude oil and avoid any corrosion or deactivation of catalysts in the refinery. An electrocoalecer technique is utilized to separate the water from the emulsion under the application of an electric field. To improve the efficiency of the EOR and electrocoalescers, it is essential to investigate the impact of surfactants, polymers, and their mixture interaction. In this study, the effects of surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)), polymer (hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM)), and their mixture with a wide range of concentrations were analyzed using turbiscan, bottle electrocoalecer, interfacial tension (IFT), and conductivity. Our study shows that when SDS was used independently, the viscosity of the dispersed phase did not change. Surprisingly, when SDS was combined with HPAM, the overall viscosity of the dispersed phase mixture decreased. HPAM and SDS contribute to an increase in the conductivity of the dispersed phase. Conductivity, IFT, and viscosity are critical factors in studying electrocoalescence. Our detailed study found that SDS is the primary factor in stabilizing the emulsion compared to HPAM using turbiscan. The electrocoalecer study shows that in the case of a deionized water-based emulsion, the separation efficiency is 98% in 10 min. In contrast, a mixture of HPAM polymer with a concentration of 2000 ppm and SDS with a concentration of 5000 ppm stabilized emulsion shows 84% separation in 10 min. The outcome of this study helps design the electrocoalescer for separating complex water-in-oil emulsion.
提高采收率（EOR）技术应用于油气生产行业，用于从地下油藏中开采更多的石油。在化学强化采油过程中，表面活性剂和聚合物溶液分别或混合注入。注入的流体在采油过程中会形成稳定的乳液。这种负载表面活性剂和聚合物的油包水乳液必须进行分离，以处理原油，并避免炼油厂中的任何腐蚀或催化剂失活。采用电聚结技术在电场作用下将水从乳液中分离出来。为了提高EOR和电聚结器的效率，研究表面活性剂、聚合物及其混合相互作用的影响至关重要。在本研究中，使用Turbiscan、瓶式电聚结器、界面张力（IFT）和电导率分析了表面活性剂（十二烷基硫酸钠（SDS））、聚合物（部分水解聚丙烯酰胺（HPAM））及其不同浓度混合物的影响。我们的研究表明，单独使用SDS时，分散相的粘度没有变化。令人惊讶的是，当SDS与HPAM混合时，分散相混合物的总体粘度降低。HPAM和SDS有助于提高分散相的电导率。电导率、IFT和粘度是研究电聚结的关键因素。我们的详细研究发现，使用Turbiscan时，与HPAM相比，SDS是稳定乳液的主要因素。电聚结器研究表明，对于去离子水基乳液，10分钟内分离效率为98%。相比之下，浓度为2000 ppm的HPAM聚合物与浓度为5000 ppm的SDS稳定乳液的混合物在10分钟内的分离率为84%。本研究结果有助于设计用于分离复杂油包水乳液的电聚结器。
