Demulsification of Water in Crude Oil

Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to optimize the concentration of demulsifier required to remove water from water-in-oil emulsions in the crude oil from Mabruk oil field, Libya. This was achieved by conducting a series of industrial standard Bottle-Test’s on the crude oil emulsions from Mabruk oil field. Mabruk oil field is located in Libya's Sirte basin. Mabruk’s crude oil has a moderate emulsion tendency easily treated by injecting an emulsion breaker (EB) into the inlet crude oil of the separation plant, to enhance oil-water separation by weakening the rigid film existing between the water and the oil that prevents the drops from coalescing. Optimizing the EB dosage in the field was a field trial based method, with dosages ranging from 5 – 100 ppm depending on emulsion stability and hardness.