Demulsification of Crude Oil Emulsion in Well X in a Niger Delta Field
Marian Charles Abatai,
Julius Udo Akpabio,
Anietie Ndarake Okon,
Benjamin Reuben Etuk
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 5, October 2020
Pages:
83-91
Received:
3 September 2020
Accepted:
18 September 2020
Published:
28 September 2020
Abstract: Crude oil emulsion is an inevitable phenomenon in hydrocarbon production. Treatment of crude oil emulsion is challenging when the emulsion is stabilized. As crude oil is brought to the surface and pumped to the production facilities, the formation of emulsion increases operating cost. There is a wide array of demulsifiers that are available in the oil and gas industry for the treatment of crude oil emulsion, but one major concern has always been the efficiency of the treatment. No single universal demulsifier can effectively remove emulsion and a combination of two or more is usually expensive. In this study, crude samples were collected from the inlet manifold of a Niger Delta field and bottle tests were conducted with several demulsifiers to select the best chemical demulsifier for use in treating the emulsions as well as the optimum combination. To achieve this objective, twelve different industrial-based demulsifiers were considered which were EXP50, Separol NF-36, Baker-Basf V13-312, Servo CC-8271, Tretolite RP6275, NACCO-Exxon 006-1442, DMO87005, EXP30, AnticorQIT007, AnticorBE027, DMO86634 and DMO81656. It was observed that DMO87005 and AnticorQIT007 produced better results based on separated water volume than other demulsifiers. Hence, the decision to use these demulsifiers to assess their combined potential and the demulsifier factors, namely, concentration, temperature and time effects on the separated water volume using design of experiments (DOE) approach. The results obtained shows that the selected demulsifiers DMO87005 and AnticorQIT007 in a combined form separate more water volume from the crude oil emulsion. Also, the performance of the combined demulsifier is dependent on the combination ratio of the selected demulsifiers. Furthermore, the results depict that the selected (non-combined) demulsifiers and the combined demulsifier factors’ main effects on the separated water volume are concentration, while concentration-time and temperature-time are the factors’ interaction effects for selected and combined demulsifiers, respectively. Again, the magnitude of the main and interaction effects of the combined demulsifier’s factors on the separated water volume is affected by the selected demulsifiers combination ratio. Thus, the combined demulsifier at 0.45mL concentration at a temperature of 90°C for 60 minutes gave a good potential that would necessitate its use for crude oil emulsion treatment in the Niger Delta.
Abstract: Crude oil emulsion is an inevitable phenomenon in hydrocarbon production. Treatment of crude oil emulsion is challenging when the emulsion is stabilized. As crude oil is brought to the surface and pumped to the production facilities, the formation of emulsion increases operating cost. There is a wide array of demulsifiers that are available in the ...
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Design of Pyrolysis Reactor for Waste Plastic Recycling
Wondwosen Bekele,
Wassihun Amedie,
Zelalem Salehudres
Issue:
Volume 5, Issue 5, October 2020
Pages:
92-97
Received:
1 September 2020
Accepted:
21 October 2020
Published:
4 November 2020
Abstract: There is an increase in the production and consumption of plastics in day to day life. All plastics are disposed as waste after their usage. The need to intervene through proper disposal and management of waste plastics is very crucial. These call the use of thermal pyrolysis, which is a way of making these wastes to become very useful to us by recycling them to produce fuel oil. In this study, the pyrolysis reactor was design and manufactured for recycling of waste plastic into fuel working by the principle of thermal pyrolysis process. Three experiments are carried out to test the proper function of the reactor. It was found that about 84% of fuel obtained from one kilogram of plastic at temperature of 360°C. The feed stock that was used for the experiment was plastic wastes of polyethylene with different proportion LDPE and HDPE. The method feeding the feedstock to the reactor was by opining the top cover of the reactor for every batch. The reactor was heating externally using furnaces built for the purpose and at the outlet of reactor the condenser is attached to condense the vapors coming out of it. The reactor temperature was controlled by thermocouple sensor fixed inside the reactor and this sensor connected to an external PD controller. A separation procedure of fuel was employed by controlling the internal temperature of the reactor. Three types of fuel obtained from these experiments which are similar to gasoil, kerosene and diesel temperature range from 130°C - 230°C, 230°C -270°C and 230°C and above respectively. The fuel obtained from the experiment tested and characterized in national petroleum supply enterprise laboratory and meet the physical and chemical characteristic of fuels for different applications.
Abstract: There is an increase in the production and consumption of plastics in day to day life. All plastics are disposed as waste after their usage. The need to intervene through proper disposal and management of waste plastics is very crucial. These call the use of thermal pyrolysis, which is a way of making these wastes to become very useful to us by rec...
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