Use of surfactants for crude oil-in-water emulsions demulsification

This research seeks to optimize the efficiency of demulsification of oil-in-water emulsions from matured reservoirs subjected to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and trimethyl-tetradecyl ammonium chloride (TTAC).This study will focus on simulating stable oil-in-water emulsions at different oil ratios and investigate the factors (oil to water ratio, emulsifier concentration, homogenization speed,salinity, and droplet size) that could affect the stability of the emulsion. Factors such as demulsification time, demulsifier concentration, and oil ratio will be investigated via responsesurface methodology with central composite design to determine the optimum operating conditions for maximum demulsification efficiency.