An Ecological Study on the Effect of Residual Polymers on the Stability of Emulsions of Crude Oil

Hydrocarbon emulsions have a number of drawbacks, such as ecological unfriendliness to environment, instability to pollution by produced water and a great quantity of solids, dispersed phase thickening, as well as high hydraulic characteristic compared to water-based emulsions. Suizhong crude oil was divided into four components by the method of polarity separation. The interfacial dilational rheology parameters in the interface of polymer solution and simulated oil were measured by the way of small amplitude period oscillation using the DSA100 interface expansion rheometer produced by German Kriiss Company. The influence of polymer on the macroscopic phase separation of the crude oil and components simulated oil emulsion was researched by the means of bottle test. The adsorption behavior of polymer in oil-water interface was studied using dual polarization interference technique (DPI). The result showed that the stability of simulated oil emulsion is asphaltene > crude oil > gelatin > oil separation. The stability of simulated oil emulsion was increased with the increase of polymer concentration. With the concentration of the polymer increasing, Oil-water interfacial tension of crude oil and components increased first and decreased later. The interfacial dilatational modulus increased and the phase angle decreased. Polymer adsorbing on crude oil and components surface enhanced the elasticity of the interfacial film, which improved the stability of the oil-water interface. And as the concentration of polymer increased, the adsorption capacity of crude oil and components increased.