Characterization of Water-in-North Sea Acidic Crude Oil Emulsions by Means of Rheology, Droplet Size, and Laminar Flow in Pipeline

The formation of the water-in-crude oil emulsions is very common in the petroleum industry and can cause significant flow assurance problems during oil production in oilfield operations. Good estimations of the rheology, droplet size, and pipeline flow properties of these emulsions are very important for oilfield developments and flow assurance assessments. In this study, water-in-North Sea acidic crude oil emulsions were characterized by means of rheology, droplet size, and laminar flow in pipeline. The rheological properties of the emulsions were investigated at different aqueous volume fractions (phi), temperatures, and shear rates (s(-1)). The laminar flow properties of the emulsions in the pipeline were investigated in a 3m horizontal test section of pipe with 0.0221m inner diameter at different flow rates from 0.30 to 0.70 m/s at 40 degrees C. Various data were acquired on the emulsions, pressure gradient, phase fraction, flow rate, droplet size, and droplet size distribution.