Effects of Surfactants and Alkalis On The Stability of Heavy-Oil-in-Water Emulsions
Effects of Surfactants and Alkalis On The Stability of Heavy-Oil-in-Water Emulsions
Table 1—Physical and chemical properties of Tahe heavy crude oil (30º C).
Table 2—Equilibrium oil/water IFT in the presence of surfactants (1.5 m%, 30º C).
100
2:1
Water Separation Rate (vol%)
30
Water Separation Rate (vol%)
3:1
4:1
75
24
18 50
12
25
6
0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
Time (hours) Surfactant Concentrations (%)
Fig. 3—Effect of formulated surfactant mass ratios on oil/water Fig. 4—Effect of the formulated surfactant mass concentrations
separation. on oil/water separation.
35 Na2 CO3
2Naþ þ CO3 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð2Þ
Na2CO3
Water Separation Rate (vol%) 28 TEOA CO3 2 þ H2 O
HCO3 þ OH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð3Þ
NaOH þ
R NH2 þ H2 O
OH þ R NH3 : . . . . . . . . . . . . ð4Þ
21
As shown in Eqs. 1 through 4, the three alkalis exhibit different
14 ionization characteristics, and the content of ionized hydroxyl
ions in solutions for the same alkali concentration is
NaOH>Na2CO3>TEA. The most interfacial active substances
7
are produced by reactions between the NaOH solution and organic
acids in crude oil. At low alkali concentrations, the weak base can
0 only react with small molecular acids in crude oil. However,
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 strong alkalis can react with long-chain molecules and esters to
Alkali Concentration (%) generate interfacial active substances, which can form a strong
interface film. As a result, when the alkali mass concentration is
Fig. 5—Effects of inorganic/organic alkali mass concentrations less than 0.2%, NaOH has the strongest influence on the stability
on oil/water separation. of the emulsions, and TEA has the weakest.
When the mass concentrations of the alkalis increase, the al-
to the bulk solution, which is not favorable for surfactant adsorp- kali acts as an electrolyte solvent. On one hand, the compression
tion onto the interface. The surfactant micelles can only slightly of the alkali on the electric double layer is strong, but the alkali
increase the viscosity of the aqueous phase, meaning that the renders a more-pronounced hydrophobic effect on the surfactant,
water separation decreases gradually. improving the solubility of the interfacial active substances in the
oil phase. Therefore, the water-separation rates increase as the al-
kali concentration increases. When the concentration exceeds
The Effect of Alkali on Oil/Water Separation. The Effects 0.3%, TEA has the most-prominent impact on the emulsion stabil-
of Inorganic/Organic Alkali on Heavy-Oil-in-Water-Emulsion ity than any of the other alkalis studied here, whereas NaOH has
Separation. Heavy oil contains some active ingredients with po- the least. This phenomenon occurs because TEA and Na2CO3 are
lar functional groups, such as resins, asphaltenes, naphthenics, both weak alkaline substances, and their positive hydrolytic reac-
and fatty acids. The effect of alkalis on the emulsion stability is tions can be promoted by an increase in the alkali concentrations,
usually attributed to the ionization of these interfacial active com- meaning that more active substances will appear on the oil/water
ponents, which induces strong electrostatic repulsive forces to interface. In addition, TEA is a type of surface-active species that
overcome the cohesion of the interfacial film. These ionized com- can form a mosaic adsorption together with the surfactant and pe-
ponents are described as in-situ soap. These active substances not troleum soap molecules to improve the stability of the emulsion
only reduce the IFT sharply but also have a synergistic effect with (Bai et al. 2014).
the surfactants. Therefore, the impacts of inorganic alkali (NaOH/ Conductivity of the Surfactant/Alkali System. The ampho-
Na2CO3) and organic alkali (TEA) on the stability of heavy-oil- teric surfactant BS-12 contains both amino with a positive charge
in-water emulsions are being researched, respectively. and ionized carboxyl with a negative charge and is readily
The correlation between alkali solutions and water-separation affected by alkali. This study presents an analysis of how the al-
rates is illustrated in Fig. 5 for the combination surfactant mass kali types and mass concentrations change the conductivity of the
concentration of 1.5% and alkali mass concentrations of 0.1, 0.15, pure alkali solution and the AS (alkali and surfactant) system. The
0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5%. experimental results are shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 5 shows that when the mass concentration of the alkali is Fig. 6 reflects the varying tendencies of the conductivities of
less than 0.2%, the magnitude of the effects from the three alkalis the three pure alkali solutions and the AS systems (composed of
examined on the water separation is TEA>Na2CO3>NaOH. BS-12 and inorganic/organic alkali). (1) Both the pure alkali solu-
When the alkali concentration is greater than 0.3%, the magnitude tions and the AS systems exhibit an increasing conductivity when
is NaOH>Na2CO3>TEA. the alkali mass concentrations increase. (2) The conductive mag-
For above-mentioned results, this is because the order of the nitude of the different bases is NaOH > Na2CO3>TEA. (3) The
pH values of these three alkalis is NaOH>Na2CO3>TEA. The conductivity of the NaOH and surfactant system is less than that
hydrolysis reactions in aqueous solution for these are shown in of the pure NaOH solution (Fig. 6a). In addition, the conductivity
Formulas (1), 2), (3), and (4) (Mercado et al. 2014): of the Na2CO3 and surfactant system is slightly larger than that of
the pure Na2CO3 solution, and these two trend lines are nearly
NaOH ! OH þ Naþ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð1Þ parallel (Fig. 6b). However, the conductivity of the TEA and
30 9 1.6
Conductivity (ms·cm–1)
Conductivity (ms·cm )
Conductivity (ms·cm )
–1
–1
TEOA solution
25 NaOH solution Na2CO3 AS system
AS system 1.2
AS system
20 6
15 0.8
10 3
0.4
5
0 0 0.0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Fig. 6—Effect of alkali mass concentrations on the conductivity of the alkali solution/AS system NaOH solution and the system of
NaOH and BS-12, (b) Na2CO3 solution and the system of Na2CO3 and BS-12, and (c) TEA solution and the system of TEA and BS-12.
24 0
ζ-Potential (mV)
–4
12
–6
–8
6
1:1 tion of the carboxyl in BS-12, which results in the increase of the
3:1 absolute zeta-potential of the oil droplets (as shown in Fig. 8).
1:3 When the mass concentration exceeds 0.2%, the role of the com-
20 positional alkali as the electrolyte is more significant, which
reduces the absolute zeta-potential of the oil droplets (as shown in
Fig. 8). This effect should be attributed to the precipitation of
some of the carboxylate ions that are adsorbed on the surface of
10 the oil droplets (Ashrafizadeh et al. 2012). However, increasing
amounts of interfacial spaces are occupied by the TEA molecules,
decreasing the electrostatic attraction forces between the adjacent
interfacial molecules.
0 The effects of the combination alkali mass ratios on the water-
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 separation rates were studied when the alkali mass concentration
Time (hours) is 0.2%, as shown in Fig. 9. The water-separation rate reaches its
minimum value (5.33%) after 3 hours when the mass ratio of 1:1.
Fig. 9—Effects of compositional alkali mass ratios on oil/water Whenever the mass ratio deviates from 1:1, the water-separation
separation. rates increase. This phenomenon demonstrates that the emulsion
is most stable at a mass ratio of 1:1. When the mass ratio is lower, an increasing amounts of organic alkali molecules act as surfac-
there are not enough ionized hydroxyl ions to react with all the tants and adsorb on the interface of the oil droplets. With the
acids in the heavy crude oil. When the mass ratio is higher, there increase in the “surfactant” concentrations, the interfacial area
are fewer TEA molecules adsorbed at the interface, which will between the dispersed (oil) phase and continuous (water) phase
weaken the synergistic effect between the TEA molecules and increases, producing a larger number of small-sized oil droplets
the surfactants. (Kundu et al. 2013), making them difficult to approach and coa-
lesce to each other. However, when the alkali mass concentration
exceeds 0.2%, the sizes of oil droplets increase. This is caused by
The Effects of the Compositional Alkali on the Size of Oil the compositional alkali molecules that act as an “electrolyte” and
Droplets. To further research the effects of the compositional al- reduce the negative electrical-charge density and increase the
kali concentrations on the size of the oil droplets, microscopic “hydrophobic effect” of the surfactant, resulting in a decrease of
images of the emulsions with alkali mass concentrations from 0 to the emulsion stability.
0.5% were performed and shown in Fig. 10.
The alkali mass concentrations in Samples (a) through (h) are:
0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5%, respectively. The Effects of Oil/Water Ratios on the Emulsion Stability. It
As seen in Fig. 10, when the mass concentration of the alkali is well-known that the greater the oil/water ratios, the higher the
composition is less than 0.2%, the sizes of oil droplets decrease as pipeline-transporting efficiency. However, when the oil/water ra-
the alkali concentrations increase. And when the alkali mass con- tio is too high, the emulsion may be unstable. To research the
centration exceeds 0.2%, the sizes of oil droplets become larger effects of oil-water ratios on the stability of emulsions, the oil/
with increasing the alkali concentrations. water ratio was increased from 5:5 to 9:1. However, when the oil/
These aforementioned results should be explained that, as the water ratio was equal to 9:1, a phase inversion from oil/water
concentrations of the alkali increase, the negative charged surfac- emulsion to water/oil emulsion could be obtained, and the rest of
tants increase from the reactions between the hydroxyl ions in the experimental results were shown in Fig. 11.
alkali solution and acidic components in the crude oil. In addition, As seen in Fig. 11, the water-separation rates decrease initially
as the oil-water ratios enlarge and then increase. And when the
oil-water ratio is 7:3, the water-separation rate reaches its lowest
70 point (5.33%) after 3 hours.
5:5
Water Separation Rate (vol%)
200 rates and the MgCl2 or CaCl2 molar concentrations is similar, and
5:5 the stability of the emulsion is improved through the addition of
6:4 organic alkali. (4) For the emulsions stabilized by the com-
160 7:3 pounded alkali/surfactant, the effect that the Mg2þ ions has on the
Viscosity (mPa·s)
8:2
water-separation rates is greater than that of the Ca2þ ions.
120 The reasons for the former two results are demonstrated as fol-
lows. (1) Mg2þ and Ca2þ ions can strongly compress the diffused
80 electric double layer and lower the negative-electrical charge den-
sity, resulting in a high-collision efficiency for the oil droplets
in water. (2) The Mg2þ and Ca2þ ions can form complexes
40 within petroleum soap adsorbed at the oil/water interface. (3) Large
amounts of OH ions in solution can be consumed by the
0 Mg2þ and Ca2þ ions, leading to the production of less petroleum
50 100 150 200 250 300 soap to stabilize the interfacial film. (4) Mg(OH)2 is insoluble in
Shear Rate (s–1) an aqueous solution, but Ca(OH)2 is slightly soluble. The loga-
rithm of the solubility product of Mg(OH)2 or Ca(OH)2 is shown
Fig. 12—Dependence of heavy-oil-in-water emulsion viscosities in Eq. 5 (Harris 1991):
on oil/water ratios.
Pksp ¼ log10 ðkspÞ: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð5Þ
viscosity is not obvious between the oil/water ratio of 7:3 and 8:2.
Therefore, the classic oil/water ratio of 7:3 was selected. The Pksp values of Mg(OH)2 and Ca(OH)2 are 10.74 and 5.26,
respectively (Harris 1991). The larger the Pksp value, the smaller
the solubility of the precipitate. Therefore, there are fewer free
The Effects of Bivalent Salts on the Emulsion Stability. Under
hydroxyl ions in the MgCl2 solution than in the CaCl2 solution. In
the same molar concentrations, the pH values of the NaOH solu-
addition, considering the hydrated ionic radius of Mg2þ and Ca2þ
tions are higher than those of the TEA solutions. Therefore, more
[i.e., 0.428 and 0.412 nm (Kiriukhim and Collins 2002)], the
interfacial active substances known as petroleum soap can be pro-
smaller the radius of hydration, the more easily electrons travel
duced by the acid/base reactions in the emulsions. However,
into the electric double layer, making the aggregation of oil drop-
NaOH may cause strata denudation and corrosion of pipelines/
lets easier (Feng et al. 2012). These two effects are in competi-
equipment, and organic alkalis can relieve these problems.
tion, and the influence of the Mg2þ ions on the water-separation
Another important aspect is that organic alkalis have a strong salt
rates is greater than that of the Ca2þ ions at low molar concentra-
tolerance (Zhao et al. 2013). Assuming that the produced water
tions. However, this result is reversed at high concentrations.
contains Mg2þ and Ca2þ ions, the compatibility of the different
The reasons for the latter two results may be because the TEA
alkalis containing MgCl2 and CaCl2 solutions is shown in Fig. 13.
molecule has lone pair electrons carried by the amino-nitrogen
Fig. 13c shows that the organic alkali TEA possesses great
atoms. TEA molecules have the ability to provide electron pairs
compatibility with MgCl2 and CaCl2 solutions. Therefore, the or-
to form a coordinate bond with the Mg2þ and Ca2þ ions, which
ganic alkali was compounded with the inorganic alkali in this
can both decrease the consumption of the hydroxyl ions in the so-
study. To compare the hard-water resistance of the compounded
lution and lower the compression between the Mg2þ/Ca2þ ions
alkali with that of NaOH, the mass concentrations of NaOH and
and the diffused-electrical double layer. Furthermore, the stability
the alkali combinations were held constant at 0.2%, and the mass
constant of the complex is proportional to the square of the charge
concentrations of the surfactant were kept at 1.5%. The effects of
and is inversely proportional to the ionic radius (Allred 1961).
the MgCl2 and CaCl2 molar concentrations on the stability of vari-
Therefore, the produced complex from the reaction between
ous emulsions were studied, and the experimental results are
MgCl2 and TEA is more-stable, resulting in a higher water-sepa-
shown in Fig. 14.
ration rate.
Four experimental results are observed. (1) Regardless of
whether the emulsions stabilized by the NaOH or compounded al-
kali, the water-separation rates increase with the increase of both Dynamic Stability of Emulsion Under Different Temperatures.
the MgCl2 and CaCl2 molar concentrations. (2) For the emulsions Turbiscan lab equipment was used to analyze the dynamic stabil-
stabilized with NaOH, the effect of the Mg2þ ions on the water- ity of the emulsion under different temperatures by means of
separation rate is greater than that of Ca2þ ions at low molar con- transmission and BS detectors. Because the positive or negative
centrations, but less than at high molar concentrations. (3) For the variations in the transmission and BS profiles are not correlated
compounded alkali, the relationship between the water-separation with destabilization processes for sample heights of 2 mm and
Fig. 13—Compatibility studies of the different alkalis containing MgCl2 and CaCl2 solutions: (a) NaOH 1 CaCl2, (b) NaOH 1 MgCl2,
and (c) TEA 1 MgCl2/CaCl2.
40 ples are 6.0, 9.5, and 11.5 mm at 30, 50, and 60 C, respectively,
NaOH+CaCl2 and that the distances between the profile curves become larger as
Water Separation Rate (vol%) NaOH+TEOA+CaCl2 the temperature increases.
30 The aforementioned results can demonstrate that the BS is pro-
NaOH+MgCl2
portional to ð/=dÞ1=2 on the basis of the principle of the Turbiscan
NaOH+TEOA+MgCl2 laboratory, where / is the volume fraction of the dispersed phase
20 and d is the average size of the oil droplets (Kang et al. 2012). In
the bottom of the emulsion samples, as time passes, an increasing
number of large droplets migrate to the upper layer. At the same
10 time, there is a reduction in the average droplet size and a
decrease in the dispersed phase concentrations. The competition
of these two effects leads to an increase in the BS. Higher temper-
atures make the flocculation and coalescence of oil droplets faster
0
0.000 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.010 and easier, which results in smaller sizes of oil droplets left, larger
BS, and a higher unstable range. After a period of time, a reduc-
Molar Concentration (mol·L–1)
tion in BS is observed at 50 and 60 C, which is attributed to the
reduction in the concentrations of small droplets or a little oil
Fig. 14—Effect of the molar concentrations of MgCl2 and CaCl2
on the stability of the emulsions. remaining in the water phase (Nguyen and Balsamo 2013). The
average size of the oil droplets changes a little. This is mainly
caused by the rigid film at the oil/water interface and because the
more than 42 mm, both values are determined in enclosed air in dispersed droplets do not completely flocculate or coalescence. In
the bottom and on the top of a cylindrical glass tube, respectively the middle and top emulsion samples, the BS decreases with time
(Kang et al. 2011). In this study, the height range of the samples because of more and more oil droplets coalescing into bigger
was set at 2 to 39 mm, the formulated surfactant mass concentra- droplets, leading to a decrease in BS.
tion was 1.5%, and the alkali-combination mass concentration On the basis of these results, the BS values are relatively low.
was 0.2%. An image was taken of the glass cell after 3 hours of This shows that the emulsions stabilized with a formulated surfac-
measuring. Because the transmission values are nearly zero over tant containing BS-12 and OP-10 and a composition alkali con-
this range, the analyses for all the samples were carried out with taining NaOH and TEA have a temperature resistance.
BS profiles, as shown in Fig. 15.
As seen in Fig. 15, when the bottom of the emulsion sample
heights ranges from 2 to 12 mm, the relationship between the BS Conclusions
and time is positive at 30 C, and the BS increases with time ini- • The effect of BS-12 on the stability of heavy-oil-in-water emul-
tially and then decreases at 50 or 60 C. However, in the middle sions is greater than that of OP-10. However, OP-10 can obtain
and top of the emulsion samples, the BS changes a little at 30 C, a lower equilibrium IFT between the heavy crude oil and water.
and the BS decreases with time at higher temperatures. It is also The formulated surfactant of BS-12 and OP-10 has an optimal
seen that the unstable heights at the bottom of the emulsion sam- mass ratio of 1:1, and the water-separation rate decreases
0:00:00 0:00:00
0:00:15 0:00:15
0:00:25 7% 0:00:25
5% 0:00:40 0:00:40
0:00:50 6% 0:00:50
0:01:05 0:01:05
4% 0:01:15 5% 0:01:15
0:01:25 0:01:25
0:01:40 4% 0:01:40
3% 0:01:50 0:01:50
0:02:05 0:02:05
3%
0:02:15 0:02:15
2% 0:02:30
2% 0:02:30
0:02:40 0:02:40
0:02:50 0:02:50
1% 0:03:00 1%
0 mm 20 mm 40 mm 0:03:00
0 mm 20 mm 40 mm
a (30°C) b (50°C)
6:07:37
6:07:52
7% 6:08:02
6:08:17
6% 6:08:27
6:08:37
5% 6:08:52
6:09:02
4% 6:09:17
6:09:27
6:09:37
3% 6:09:52
6:10:02
2% 6:10:12
6:10:27
1% 6:10:37
0 mm 20 mm 40 mm
c (60°C)
sharply with the increase in surfactant concentrations, before Bryan, J., Mai, A., and Kantzas, A. 2008. Investigation Into the Processes
moderately decreasing to minimum value. Responsible for Heavy Oil Recovery by Alkali-Surfactant Flooding.
• The water-separation rate decreases until it reaches the lowest Presented at the SPE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Tulsa,
point and then increases with the alkali concentration. When 20–23 April. SPE-113993-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/113993-MS.
the mass concentration of the alkali is less than 0.2%, the mag- Bryan, J. and Kantzas, A. 2008. Potential for Alkali-Surfactant Flooding
nitude of the effects of these three alkalis on the stability of the in Heavy Oil Reservoirs Through Oil-in-Water Emulsification. J Can
emulsions is NaOH>Na2CO3>TEA. When the alkali mass con- Pet Technol 48 (2): 37–46. PETSOC-09-02-37. http://dx.doi.org/
centration is more than 0.3%, the magnitudes is as follows: 10.2118/09-02-37.
TEA > Na2CO3 > NaOH. Domian, E., Brynda-Kopytowska, A., and Oleksza, K. 2015. Rheological
• When the formulated alkali of NaOH and TEA mass concentra- Properties and Physical Stability of O/W Emulsions Stabilized by
tion is 0.2% and mass ratio is 1:1, the oil/water emulsion is the OSA Starch With Trehalose. Food Hydrocolloids 44: 49–58. http://
most stable because the quantity of produced petroleum soap dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2014.08.020.
adsorbed at the interface is the maximized. In addition, TEA Dong, Z., Lin, M., Wang, H. et al. 2010. Influence of Surfactants Used in
molecules, as surface-active substances, exert a synergistic Surfactant-Polymer Flooding on the Stability of Gudong Crude Oil
effect in tandem with the surfactants and petroleum soap at the Emulsion. Petrol. Sci. 7 (2): 263–267. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/
water/oil interface. s12182-010-0031-y.
• The sizes of the oil droplets become smaller with the increase Farah, M. A., Oliveira, R. C., Caldas, J. N. et al. 2005. Viscosity of
of the alkali concentrations until the mass concentration reaches Water–in–Oil Emulsions: Variation With Temperature and Water Vol-
0.2%, and then the sizes become larger with further increase of ume Fraction. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 48: 169–184. http://dx.doi.org/
the alkali concentrations. 10.1016/j.petrol.2005.05.014.
• As the ratios of oil/water increase, the water-separation rates Feng, J. G., Zhang, X. J., Fan, T. F. et al. 2012. Effects of pH Value,
decrease initially and then increase. Emulsification Temperature and Electrolytical Ions on the Stability of
• Regardless of the pure alkali solution or the AS system, their Metolachlor Emulsion in Water. Chem. J. of Chinese Universities 33
conductivities increase when the alkali mass concentrations (11): 2521–2525. http://dx.doi.org/10.7503/cjcu20120156.
increase. The conductivity of the NaOH and BS-12 system is Harris, D. C. 1991. Quantitative Chemical Analysis, third edition,
less than that of the pure NaOH solution. The conductivity of 123–125. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.
the Na2CO3 and BS-12 system is slightly larger than that of the
Kang, W., Xu, B., Wang, Y. et al. 2011. Stability Mechanism of W/O
pure Na2CO3 solution. Finally, the conductivity of the TEA and
Crude Oil Emulsion Stabilized by Polymer and Surfactant. Colloids
BS-12 system is considerably more pronounced than that of the
Surf. A: Physicochemical. Eng. Aspects 384 (1–3): 555–560. http://
pure TEA solution.
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2011.05.017.
• Whether the emulsion is stabilized by NaOH or the com-
pounded alkali, the water-separation rates increase as the molar Kang, W., Guo, L., Fan, H. et al. 2012. Flocculation, Coalescence and
concentrations of MgCl2 and CaCl2 increase, and the stability is Migration of Dispersed Phase Droplets and Oil–Water Separation in
improved by adding the organic alkali TEA. Heavy Oil Emulsion. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 81: 177–181. http://
• An increase in temperature is helpful for oil/water separation in dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2011.12.011.
emulsions. However, the emulsions stabilized by the formulated Kiriukhim, M. Y. and Collins, K. D. 2002. Dynamic Hydration Numbers
surfactants and compositional alkalis exhibit a temperature for Biologically Important Ions. Biophys. Chem. 99 (2): 155–168.
resistance. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0301-4622(02)00153-9.
Kundu, P., Agrawal, A., Mateen, H. et al. 2013. Stability of Oil-in-Water
Macro-Emulsion With Anionic Surfactant: Effect of Electrolytes and
Acknowledgment Temperature. J. Chem. Eng. Sci. 102: 176–185. http://dx.doi.org/
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of 10.1016/j.ces.2013.07.050.
China (Grant No. 51074136) and the Research Fund for the Doc- Lanier, D. 1998. Heavy Oil—A Major Energy Source for the 21st Century.
toral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. Proc., the 7th Unitar International Conference on Heavy Crude & Tar
20115121110004) and the Graduate Student Innovation Fund and Sands, Beijing, 27–30 October. No. 039,361.
the “change cup” breeding project, Southwest University Lona, M. 1978. Process for Producing Low-Density Low Sulfur Crude
(CXJJ2015030). The researchers who contributed to this paper are Oil. US Patent No. 4,092,238.
acknowledged greatly for participating in parts of this study.
MacWilliams, M. A. and Eadie, W. 1993. Process and Apparatus for Par-
tial Upgrading. Canadian Patent No. 1,313,639.
References Mercado, R. A., Salager, J. L., Sadtler, V. et al. 2014. Breaking of a Cati-
onic Amine Oil-in-Water Emulsion by pH Increasing: Rheological
Abdurahaman, N. H., Rosli, Y. M., Azhari, N. H. et al. 2012. Pipeline
Monitoring To Modelize Asphalt Emulsion Rupture. Colloids Surf. A:
Transportation of Viscous Crudes as Concentrated Oil-in-Water Emul-
Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 458: 63–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
sions. J. Petrol. Sci. Eng. 90–91: 139–144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.colsurfa/2014.03.109.
j.petrol.2012.04.025.
Nedjhiouia, M., Moulai-Mostefa, N., Morsli, A. et al. 2005. Combined
Ahmed, N. S., Nassar, A. M., Zaki, N. N. et al. 1999. Formation of Fluid
Effects of Polymer/Surfactant/Oil/Alkali on Physical Chemical Prop-
Heavy Oil-in-Water Emulsions for Pipeline Transportation. Fuel 78
erties. Desalination 185 (1–3): 543–550. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
(5): 593–600. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0016-2361(98)00157-4.
j.desal.2005.05.013.
Allred, A. L. 1961. Electronegativity Values From Thermochemical Data.
J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem. 17 (3–4): 215–221. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ Nguyen, D. and Balsamo, V. 2013. Emulsification of Heavy Oil in Aque-
0022-1902(61)80142-5. ous Solutions of Poly(vinyl alcohol): A Method for Reducing Appa-
Ashrafizadeh, S. N., Motaee, E., and Hoshyargar, V. 2012. Emulsification rent Viscosity of Production Fluids. Energy & Fuels 27 (4):
of Heavy Crude Oil in Water by Natural Surfactants. J. Petrol. Sci. 1736–1747. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ef3014986.
Eng. 86–87: 137–143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2012.03.026. Saniere, A., Henaut, I., and Argillier, J. F. 2004. Pipeline Transportation
Bai, Y. R., Shang, X. S., Zhao, X. T. et al. 2014. Effects of a Novel Or- of Heavy Oils, a Strategic, Economic and Technological Challenge.
ganic Alkali on the Interfacial Tension and Emulsification Behaviors Oil & Gas Science and Technol-Rev. IFP 59 (5): 455–466. http://
Between Crude Oil and Water. J. Dispers. Sci. Technol. 35: dx.doi.org/10.2516/ogst:2004031.
1126–1134. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01932691.2013.833483. Simon, R. and Poynter, W. G. 1970. Pipelining Oil/Water Mixtures. US
Bryan, J. and Kantzas, A. 2007. Enhanced Heavy-Oil Recovery by Alkali- Patent No. 3,519,006.
Surfactant Flooding. Presented at the SPE Annual Technical Confer- Tadros, T., Izquierdo, P., Esquena, J. et al. 2004. Formation and Stability
ence and Exhibition, Anaheim, California, 11–14 November. SPE- of Nano-Emulsions. J. Advances in Colloid and Interface Sci.
110738-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/110738-MS. 108–109: 303–318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cis.2003.10.023.
Tang, M. G., Zhang, G. C., Ge, J. J. et al. 2013. Investigation Into the tion. He has authored more than 110 academic papers and
Mechanisms of Heavy Oil Recovery by Novel Alkali Flooding. Col- holds five patents. Jing earned a PhD degree in oil-and-gas
loids Surf. A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 421: 91–100. http:// engineering from SWPU.
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2012.12.055. Huayi Jiang is an associate professor in Xi’an Shiyou University.
Titus, P. E. 1973. Pipeline Transportation of Waxy Products. US Patent He has been with the university for more than 20 years. Jiang’s
No. 3,776,248. research interests are microwaves and rheology of crude oil.
Yang, Q. Q., Ke, D., Yang, M. L. et al. 2013. Effect of Salt Concentration He has published more than 15 academic papers and holds
on the Phase Separation of Bitumen Emulsions. Colloids Surf. A: two patents. Jiang earned a PhD degree in oil-and-gas engi-
Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 425: 1–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ neering from SWPU in 2002.
j.colsurfa.2013.02.041. Yunpeng An is an assistant engineer in China Petroleum Pipe-
Zaki, N., Butz, T., and Kessel, D. 2001. Rheology Particle Size Distribu- line Engineering Corporation. He is engaged in engineering
tion, and Asphaltere Deposition of Viscous Asphaltic Crude Oil-in- design of long distance oil-and-gas pipelines. He has authored
Water Emulsions for Pipeline Transportation. J. Pet. Sci. Technol. 19 or coauthored eight academic papers. He holds an MS
(3–4): 425–435. http://dx.doi.org/10.1081/LFT-100000774. degree in oil-and-gas storage and transportation engineering
Zhao, X., Bai, Y., Wang, Z. et al. 2013. Low Interfacial Tension Behavior from SWPU.
Between Organic Alkali/Surfactant/Polymer System and Crude Oil. J. Cheng Wu is a master’s degree candidate of SWPU. His
Dispers. Sci. Technol. 34 (6): 756–763. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/ research interests include flow assurance and improvement of
01932691.2012.686252. heavy crude oil. Wu has authored or coauthored three aca-
demic papers.
Nana Sun holds a PhD degree in oil and gas engineering from Sijia Zheng holds a PhD degree in oil and gas engineering
Southwest Petroleum University (SWPU). Her research interests from SWPU. He earned an MS degree in oil-and-gas storage
are emulsification and demulsification of heavy crude oil. Sun and transportation engineering from Xi’an Petroleum Univer-
has authored or coauthored more than 10 academic papers. sity in 2011, and now conducts research in the field of sand
She also holds an MS degree in oil and gas storage and trans- erosion and erosion monitoring.
portation engineering from Xi’an Shiyou University.
Hongyuan Qi is a PhD degree candidate at SWPU. Her
Jiaqiang Jing is a professor at SWPU. He has worked for 25 research interests are in pipeline wettability and frictional re-
years as a teacher for SWPU. Jing’s research interests include sistance. Qi holds an MS degree in oil-and-gas storage and
technology and theory of oil-and-gas storage and transporta- transportation engineering from Xi’an Shiyou University.