Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2021
26th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Study of the destabilization of emulsions by shear-induced coalescence
Submission Author:
Patricia Tristão , RJ
Co-Authors:
Patricia Tristão, Ricardo Hadlich Teixeira Leite, Eliana Marin, Paulo Roberto de Souza Mendes, Erick Quintella, Lara Schimith Berghe
Presenter: Patricia Tristão
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2021.COB2021-0813
Abstract
The co-production of water in oil wells is one of the most challenging aspects of the petroleum industry since these fluids emulsify during transport within the pipelines. Since W/O emulsions possess higher apparent viscosity, their presence causes an increase in transport and processing costs. This research aims to analyze the influence of droplet deformation on emulsion stability, specifically, to study the increase in phase separation due to coalescence generated by shear-induced deformation on droplets. Initially, we studied the efficiency of the phase separation under different shear rates and shear times on a Couette geometry. The formation of large droplets was macroscopically observed and the increase in phase separation efficiency was verified. Afterwards, we modified the flow geometry, introducing coalescence and sedimentation zones, notoriously optimizing the phase separation process. The effect of deformation on stability was observed in both studies since the phase separation of the emulsions that suffered deformation was significantly higher than of those which remained at rest.
Keywords
Emulsion, petroleum industry, Petroleum, Coalescence, Coalescence Phenomenon, shear, Deformation, phase separation
