DESTABILIZATION OF CRUDE OIL EMULSION VIA ELECTROCOAGULATION METHOD

Abstract

Formation of emulsions during oil production and processing is a costly problem, both in terms of chemicals used and production losses. Conventional ways of breaking crude oil emulsion are disadvantageous from both economic and environmental perspectives. In this paper, the potentials of electrocoagulation technology in destabilization of crude oil emulsion were investigated. The crude oil was obtained from Petronas Refinery Melaka, Malaysia. For stability performance test, Span 80 was used as emulsifier, while for chemical destabilization performance test, Hexylamine was used. The electrocoagulation method was used for destabilization of W/O emulsion. For electrocoagulation destabilization, three factors namely; voltages 15-50 V, current density 1.04-3.94 mAcm- 2, and NaCl concentration 0.5-2.5 g/L. The electrocoagulation destabilization showed that the best water separation efficiency was achieved at voltage 50 V, current density 3.94 mAcm-2, and NaCl concentration 2.5 g/L, whereas the separation efficiency reached at 98%. In addition, electrocoagulation of W/O emulsion separation is advantageous as it was simple to be operated, low cost and more identical, and then successfully applied on destabilization of W/O crude oil emulsions on the industry.