Dehydration Efficiency of Water-in-Crude Oil Emulsions in Alternating Current Electrical Fields

The influence of several operational variables on the electrostatic separation of water-in-crude oil emulsions is investigated in a concentric cylinder rheometer equipped with an alternating current (AC) generator. Shear rate, temperature, emulsion water content, electric field strength, and application time are all found to play a role in the process. The droplet size distributions achieved across some of the experiments are acquired to give further support to the conclusions. Finally, the experimental results are compared to the theoretical expression for the electrocoalescence process and discussed.