Demulsification of Water-in-Crude Oil (W/O) Emulsion by using Microwave Radiation

This study was conducted to examine a batch microwave process of 2450 MHZ in demulsification of water-oil- (w/o) emulsions as well as the effect of triton X-100 and Low Sulfur Wax Residue (LSWR) from synthesized (w/o) emulsions stability and demulsification. Oil exploitation is always accompanied by the non-desired formation of emulsions caused by the presence of naturally occurring surface-active molecules such as asphaltenes and resins. Because their presence stabilizes the oil/water interface, it is necessary to break emulsions by adding other surface-active molecules. In this study, a microwave demulsification method was utilized in a 50-50% and 20-80% of water-in-oil emulsions with varied microwave exposure time. Results show that, temperature profiles of water-in-oil emulsions inside a cylindrical container were measured. The temperature rise at a given location was linear. The rate of temperature increase of emulsions decreased at higher temperature due to decreasing dielectric loss of water. Due to its fast, volumetric and selective heating, microwave heating can be used an alternative demulsification method for water-in-oil emulsions.