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Effect of Electric Field Strengths on Coalescence of Water Droplets in Crude Oil Emulsion Electrostatic Separation of Water from Crude Oil Emulsion

Khalil Ali Alpelekeya

Crude oil and water produced in the production process of crude oil. The reduction of water levels in crude oil is essential to meet pipeline and export specifications. Several gravitational, thermal, mechanical, and chemical treatment methods are used to minimize the water levels associated with oil. When the emulsion is formed between oil and water, such as water-in-oil emulsion, the process for separating one from each other is difficult. This is because of the stabilization of the water droplet inside of the oil. Electrostatic separation is found to be the optimum technology to overcome the interfacial active surface of the oil around the water droplet. In this work, the water droplets coalescing process was observed under the application of the electric field. The coalescing rates were proportionally increased with the increasing of the electric strengths. The increasing of the coalescing rates has a positive effect on the degree of separation of water from crude oil.