Influence of Surface Pressure and Partition Coefficient of Demulsifier on Demulsification Rate

Chemicals are used for demulsification of water in crude oil emulsions. Composition of commercially available demulsifiers is seldom clearly known. In this work, demulsification has been studied with chemicals of known composition, like aliphatic and aromatic alcohols, Triton X-45, Triton X-114 and Triton N-101 and commercial ethyleneoxide/propyleneoxide block copolymers. Demulsification performance was correlated with chemical composition, surface pressure and partition coefficient of demulsifiers. High molecular weight, high surface pressure and unit partition coefficient led to best demulsification.