LANDMARK UNIVERSITY, OMU ARAN KWARA STATE NIGERIA

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

RESEARCH PROPOSAL PRESENTATION

BY:
OKPAKO EJIROGHENE G.
13BB002532/1301228

TITLE:INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GREEN DEMULSIFIER

ON WATER-IN-OIL (W/O) EMULSION

SUPERVISOR:Engr. Latinwo A.O

INTRODUCTION
 An emulsion is likely to form between two immiscible liquids that are mixed together, where one is dispersed as droplets

in the other. The formation of an emulsion significantly affects the production facilities at the surface and the amount of

oil recovery as it can cause problems to the operation activities.

 Demulsification process can be done by reducing the interfacial energy as an emulsion is thermodynamically unstable.

Normally, commercial and conventional demulsifiers currently available in the market are polymeric surfactants. These

include polypropylene and polyoxyethylene which contain methyl benzene, a chemical that causes damage to the

organisms of the surrounding environment.

 The demulsifier is injected at the point of injection which leads to the separation of water and oil. The separated water

then undergoes further treatment before it is discharged into the sea. Due to this discharge, sea water and the aquatic

marine life are directly exposed to these chemical substances. Chemicals that have acidic properties as well as chemicals

with alkaline property tend to have high levels of toxicity. Land, groundwater and air can be contaminated by this

chemical exposure.
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Emulsions of oil and water are one of many problems directly associated with the petroleum industry, in

both oil-field production and refinery environments. Whether these emulsions are created inadvertently or

are unavoidable, as in the oil-field production area, or are deliberately induced, as in refinery desalting

operations, the economic necessity to eliminate emulsions or maximize oil-water separation is present.

Emulsion problems in crude oil production and transportation requires expensive emulsion separation

equipment such as water treaters, separators and coalescers. Hence, chemical demulsification is the most

suitable method from both operational and economic point of view to break the crude oil emulsion. Among

chemical agents, interfacial active demulsifiers, which weaken the stabilizing films to enhance droplets

coalescence, are preferred due to lower addition rates needed. However, these demulsifiers are costly and

pose significant threat to the environment. It becomes imperative to develop cheap and environmentally

friendly demulsifiers.
RESEARCH PROBLEM STATEMENT
 Chemical method, which is mostly used in demulsification can be of threat to both the
aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem where crude demulsification is taking place ( i.e. in the
refinery or oil producing field ) because most of the chemicals used for crude oil emulsion
breaking, such as phenol group are toxic. To avoid these toxic or environmental non-
friendly emulsion breaking chemicals, other non-toxic crude emulsion breakers called
“green demulsifiers” have to be formulated and optimized.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH
 Having an effective Demulsifier treatment process can save millions of Naira every year in operation
cost (increasing water content in oil at 1% of transportation increases cost by 3-5% for each
transfer). In addition to costs directly in the oil industry, large volumes of water extracted along the
way during transport cause the destruction of oilfield corrosion and environmental problems
due to accidents of pipelines (Loumer, 1992).

 Consequently, creating a "green" brand Demulsifier is justifiable not only due to environmental
concern, but also with the economic position as a biodegradable agent it does not require, or at
least reduces the cost of clean-up and disposal of waste containing it. So the desire to create
“environmentally friendly” chemicals is a step in a right direction as it can actually lead to
significant cost savings (Christine and Christine, 2001).
AIMS & OBJECTIVES
The main aim of this research is to investigate of the effectiveness of green demulsifiers on
Water-In-Oil (W/O) Emulsion.

The objectives of this report are?

 Preparation of Demulsifier & Blend Demulsifier Samples
 Preparation of Synthetic W/O emulsion Samples
 Performance Assessment of formulated Demulsifier by static bottle test and toxicity level
test.
 Comparison of the formulated Demulsifier with standard commercial available Demulsifier.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The questions raised by this research includes:
 Will the materials selected be able to formulate a demulsifier?
 What will be the optimal Mixing Ratio of the synthesized W/O emulsion to the
Demulsifier ?
 On what Basis will be the best formulated Demulsifier?
 How preferable will be the new formulated Demulsifier to the existing commercial
Demulsifier?
DELINATION OF RESEARCH
Investigation of the effectiveness of green demulsifier from natural occurring
substances obtained from Omu-Aran, Kwara State Nigeria, on Synthesized Water-In-
Oil Emulsion mixture. The oil in consideration is the Bonny light Crude gotten from
Port-Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC) Alesa-Eleme, Rivers State Nigeria.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Emulsion can be divided into three types as shown in Fig. 1: water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion where
water is the dispersed phase and oil is the continuous phase, oil-in-water (0/W) emulsion in which
oil is the dispersed phase and water is the continuous phase and multiphase

Fig. 1 Types of Emulsion

Mayonnaise, icecream. soap and body lotion are examples of stable emulsions.The three main
conditions that encourage the stability of the emulsion are that the liquids involved must be
immiscible, the presence of an emulsifying agent or emulsifier, and sufficient agitation.
LITERATURE REVIEW (CONT’D)
 Demulsification is a process of breaking down the emulsion by injecting chemical demulsifier into
water and oil6

 There are two main plant compositions that are able to break the emulsion by specific approaches:
the hexane group and octadecenoic acid. Both compositions can react with surfactant to flocculate
and coalesce the water droplets. The Plant extract selected as the demulsifying agent is CASTOR
OIL. Once the demulsifier is injected into the W/O emulsion, it travels through the oil to reach the
water droplets causing lower surface tension and interfacial energy of the water droplets. The
water droplets then moves toward each other and flocculation occurs. The large water droplets
that resulted from the flocculation process now coalesces to form larger droplets. These coalesced
droplets moves downwards through the oil by gravity settling and finally settles out at the bottom
of the treating vessel.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
- MATERIALS
The blend demulsifier materials (tapioca starch, camphor, Ca(OH)2, NaOH, paraffin wax, liquid
soap and distilled water), and plant extracts will be collected within and outside Landmark
University Omu-Aran Kwara State. Other materials that will be used include:

 Analytical weighing scale

 Beaker
 Settling Vessel (Bottle)
 Graduated Cylinder
 Agitator
 Hot bath
 Stop Watch
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
- METHOD
 Preparation of synthesized Water in Oil (W/O) Emulsion.
 Preparation of Blend Demulsifier (B1 & B2)
 Bottle Test & Toxicity Test

Table 1 Demulsifier Formulations

EXPERIMENTAL CODES FORMULATIONS

E1 CASTOR OIL

B1 10 % E1 + 10 % starch + 20 % camphor + 20 % Ca(OH)2 + 20 % paraffin

wax + 20 % liquid soap

B2 10 % E1 + 10 % starch + 20 % camphor + 20 % NaOH + 20 % paraffin wax +

20 % liquid soap
PERSONAL WORK PLAN & TIME FRAME

ACTIVITY DEADLINE
Submission of proposal 20/10/2017
Approval of topic uncertain
Experimental Design Plan uncertain
Preparation of Green demulsifier February 2018
Preparation of Blend demulsifier Sample February 2018
Comparism of formulated Demulsifier with Commercial February 2018
available Demulsifier
Performance Assessment/Evaluation of Formulated February 2018
Demulsifier
Report writing 23rd of February 2018
First draft submission to the supervisor 26th of February 2018
Second draft submission to the supervisor 7th of March 2018
Final report submission to the department uncertain
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 R. Grace. “Commercial Emulsion Breaking”. In.: Schramm, L.L. Emulsions Fundamentals and
Applications in the Petroleum Industry. American Chemical Society, Washington DC. 1992, 313-
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 H. Abdurahman; A. Nour Mohd; A. Hassan and R.M. Yunus. “Characterization and
Demulsification of Water-in-Crude Oil Emulsions.” Journal of Applied Sciences vol 7 (10), pp.
1437-1441.
 Ariany Zulkania. (2003). “Characterization of Malaysian Crude Oil Emulsion-Formation and
Stability Study.” Master Degree Thesis, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia, 2003.
 R. Selvarajan and A.M. Robert. Aqueous Dispersion of an Oil Soluble Demulsifier for Breaking
Crude Oil Emulsions. (US Patent No. 6,294,093).
 Kaiser, A., Environmentally Friendly Emulsion Breakers: Vision or Reality?, SPE-164073-MS, SPE
International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry. 8-10 April. 2013. The Woodlands, Texas, USA.
 Sharon, “Encyclopedia Dictionary (Aquaculture),” (n. d.), Retrieved July 3, 2014 from
http://aquaculture.blogspot. comJ2007/0 1/effects-of-high-and-low-ph-Ievels-in.html. Lowe,
B.. ‘Experimenta1 Cookery from the Chemical and Physical Standpoint,” John Wiley & Sons.
Inc., New York (1937).
THANK YOU
For
listening.