Abstract
The presence of water dispersed in crude oil as a waterin-oil emulsion can lead to a variety of problems in the production and transportation of crude oil. Problems associated with transportation are manifested by the increase in viscosity of the produced fluids when water is present. In order to gain a better understanding of this undesirable phenomenon and to supplement demulsification research, the rheological properties of water-in-crude oil emulsions have been investigated with respect to the effects of disperse phase volume, disperse phase droplet size and temperature. The results obtained with different crude oils indicate that the viscosity of the water-in-light crude oil emulsions increases with increasing water content and decreasing water droplet size. At low water content, the emulsions are Newtonian but with increasing water content deviations from Newtonian behaviour occur. The results illustrate how the precipitation of certain crude oil indigenous surface active materials affects both the rheological properties and the dehydration of these emulsions.
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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
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Stockwell, A., Taylor, A.S., Thompson, D.G. (1986). The Rheological Properties of Water-in-Crude-Oil Emulsions. In: Mittal, K.L., Bothorel, P. (eds) Surfactants in Solution. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1833-0_39
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1833-0_39
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9024-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1833-0
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