title: Feasibility of low frequency ultrasound for water removal from crude oil emulsions.
abstract: The feasibility of indirect application of low frequency ultrasound for demulsification of crude oil was investigated without using chemical demulsifiers. Experiments were performed in an ultrasonic bath with frequency of 35 kHz. Synthetic emulsions with water content of 12%, 35% and 50% and median of droplet size distribution (DSD), median D(0.5), of 5, 10 and 25 μm were prepared from crude oil with API density of 19 (heavy crude oil) and submitted to the proposed ultrasound-assisted demulsification procedure. Experimental conditions as temperature, time of exposition to ultrasound and ultrasonic power were evaluated. Separation of water from crude oil emulsion was observed for all emulsions investigated. Demulsification efficiency up to 65% was obtained for emulsion with 50% of water content and DSD of 10 μm. Higher efficiency of demulsification was achieved using US temperature of 45 °C and ultrasound power of 160 W by 15 min. Results obtained in this study showed that ultrasound could be considered a promising technology for industrial crude oil treatment and respective water removal.
authors: Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária - Embrapa Rondônia, 76815-800 Porto Velho, RO, Brazil.
authors: Fabiane G
authors: FG
authors: Antes
authors: Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, 97105-900 Santa Maria, RS, Brazil.
authors: Liange O
authors: LO
authors: Diehl
authors: Departamento de Química Inorgânica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors: Juliana S F
authors: JS
authors: Pereira
authors: Centro de Pesquisas e Desenvolvimento Leopoldo Américo Miguez de Mello - CENPES/PETROBRAS, 21941-915 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors: Regina C L
authors: RC
authors: Guimarães
authors: Centro de Pesquisas e Desenvolvimento Leopoldo Américo Miguez de Mello - CENPES/PETROBRAS, 21941-915 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors: Ricardo A
authors: RA
authors: Guarnieri
authors: Centro de Pesquisas e Desenvolvimento Leopoldo Américo Miguez de Mello - CENPES/PETROBRAS, 21941-915 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors: Bianca M S
authors: BM
authors: Ferreira
authors: Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, 97105-900 Santa Maria, RS, Brazil.
authors: Valderi L
authors: VL
authors: Dressler
authors: Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, 97105-900 Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: ericommf@gmail.com.
authors: Erico M M
authors: EM
authors: Flores
keywords: Crude oil; Crude oil demulsification; Low frequency of ultrasound; Separation of water; Ultrasound treatment