Petroleum Science >2015,??Issue 1:??170-176 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12182-014-0009-2
Experimental investigation of the effects of various parameterson viscosity reduction of heavy crude by oil–water emulsion Open?Access
文章信息
Petroleum & Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Al-Khod 123, Oman;Petroleum & Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Al-Khod 123, Oman;Petroleum & Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Al-Khod 123, Oman;Petroleum & Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Al-Khod 123, Oman;Petroleum & Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Al-Khod 123, Oman
文章摘要
and solid particle concentration on viscosity
reduction (VR) caused by forming stable emulsions were
investigated using Omani heavy crude oil. The viscosity of
the crude oil was initially measured with respect to shear
rates at different temperatures from 20 to 70 C. The crude
oil exhibited a shear thinning behavior at all the temperatures.
The strongest shear thinning was observed at 20 C. A
non-ionic water soluble surfactant (Triton X-100) was used
to form and stabilize crude oil emulsions. The emulsification
process has significantly reduced the crude oil viscosity. The
degree of VR was found to increase with an increase in water
content and reach its maximum value at 50 %water content.
The phase inversion from oil-in-water emulsion to water-inoil
emulsion occurred at 30 % water content. The results
indicated that the VR was inversely proportional to temperature
and concentration of silica nanoparticles. For
water-in-oil emulsions, VR increased with shear rate and
eventually reached a plateau at a shear rate of around
350 s-1. This was attributed to the thinning behavior of the
continuous phase. The VR of oil-in-water emulsions
remained almost constant as the shear rate increased due to
the Newtonian behavior of water, the continuous phase.
關鍵詞
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Viscosity reduction Phase inversion Non-newtonian fluid Oil-in-water emulsions Heavy crude oil