(397bi) Efficiency Analysis of Nanoemulsions Systems Containing Silicone Polyether As Demulsifying and Antifoaming Agents for Petroleum

In the petroleum industry gravity vessels separators are used to segregate the oily, water and gas phases. Within these vessels occurs the formation of a large amount of foam due to constant agitation. The objective of this work is to obtain and evaluate oil in water (o/w) nanoemulsion systems as demulsifying and anti-foaming agents for oil.

For the composition of the nanoemulsion oily phase polypropylene glycol and Solbrax ECO were selected at concentrations of 5, 7 and 10% and compounds of silicone polyether of different polarities were used as surfactants (concentrations of 12 and 20%). The nanoemulsion systems were obtained by employing the high energy method with the aid of a high-pressure homogenizer  and further characterized by Particle size analyzer Zetasizer Nano ZS in order to obtain the size range of the droplets dispersed in the nanoemulsion as well as their stability. To evaluate the efficiency of nanoemulsions as demulsifies the bottle test methodology is being applied and the evaluation of them as anti-foaming agents will be made through a methodology developed in the laboratory [1,2].

Results obtained show that, using polypropylene glycol as the oily phase, systems with 5% of oily phase and 12% of different types of surfactants presented a higher stability. However, the efficiency as demulsifing agents was not observed. A higher efficiency of the nanoemulsion as a demulsifying agent (about 60%) was observed when the surfactant concentration was increased to 20%.

References

1- V.F. Pacheco, L. Spinelli, E.F. Lucas, C.R.E. Mansur, Energy Fuels, 2011, 25, 1659.

2 – A. K. Fraga; R. F. Santos; C. R. E Mansur. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2012, 124, 4149-4156.