Water pH and surfactant addition effects on the stability of an Algerian crude oil emulsion

In many oil production sites water injection is used as a piston to push the crude out of the well. As the age of the field progresses, the ratio of water to oil produced increases. Agitation of a water and crude oil mixture may give stable water-in-oil emulsion in which the water remains dispersed for a long period of time. These emulsions can cause severe problems in production and transport processes since they normally possess high stability and viscosity. The most important water properties which may contribute to the emulsion stability include pH and additive content. In this study, we report on the effect of both, water pH and the presence of surfactant molecules (anionic, cationic or non-ionic) on the stability of an Algerian crude oil (Haoudh el Hamra well) aqueous emulsion prepared by a mechanical agitation procedure. The stability was followed by the test-bottle method to measure the resolved water separated from the emulsion, and optical microscopy to visualize the dispersed water droplets in the oil phase. The results of the effects of varying the aqueous-phase pH suggest that the neutral medium is more efficient than acidic or basic environment for stabilizing the emulsions. The addition of non-ionic surfactants has a better potential to improve crude oil emulsion stability with respect to both cationic and anionic surfactants which do not show any improvement in the oil/water phase compatibility.