Study of the formation and breaking of extra-heavy-crude-oil-in-water emulsions—A proposed strategy for transporting extra heavy crude oils

• The formation of O/W emulsions decreases considerably the viscosity of EHCO.
• Specific emulsifiers can be used to favor the formation of O/W emulsions.
• O/W emulsion facility the transportation of EHCO by pipelines.
• Specific demulsifiers can be employed to break the O/W emulsion.

At present, many petroleum copmpanies in the world are facing processing problems about crude oil extraction, production and refining. For example, conventional pipelines are not suitable for pipelining of extra heavy oils and bitumen from the reservoirs to the refineries. According to the aforesaid, a procedure was developed for the formation of an oil-in-water emulsion employing a Mexican crude oil and its subsequent phase separation as a strategy for the pipelining of extra heavy crude oils. An O/W emulsion considerably decrease the viscosity of an extra heavy crude oil and facilitating its transport through pipelines, but crude oil must be dehydrated before further processing. We carried out a screening of commercial and synthetic surfactants for emulsion preparation as well as for breakage. The emulsion was characterized by calorimetry, optical techniques, particle size and dynamic viscosity. The stability of emulsions was evaluated by the kinetics of water separation in the presence of surfactants and heating. We also developed a factorial 2k design to study emulsion breakage with factors such as temperature, surfactant concentration and pH. All surfactants developed by ours are low toxic and full biodegradable since they atre synthesized from glucose and glycine, respectively. Thus, we developed an environmental friendly approach to facilitate crude oil transport through pipelines.

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