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Department of Chemical Engineering
Annual Report 2015
12
RESEARCH PROGRAM
NEW STRATEGY FOR SEPARATION OF COMPLEX
WATER-IN-CRUDE OIL EMULSIONS: FROM BENCH
TO LARGE SCALE SEPARATION, PETROMAKS 2
(2016-2019)
Water
‐
in
‐
crude oil emulsions (w/o) are ubiquitous in the
petroleum production industry and they need to be
processed to obtain anhydrous oil and pure water. As
environmental regulations become more rigorous
(OSPAR), it is of outmost importance to improve oil-
water separation technology in order to successfully
process increasingly complex production fluids. That is
why this new project aims to improve the knowledge of
water-oil separation processes and to develop new
separation strategies by focusing on two aspects:
Better understand the systems problematic in oil-water
separation namely the formation of complex multi-
component interfaces around droplets and the dense-
packed layers with high water content (DPL). The
complex interfacial layers will be characterized by state-
of-the-art techniques like ellipsometry, Quartz Crystal
Microbalance (QCM), interfacial rheology in shear and
dilation, NMR, Film drainage experiments, Isothermal
Titration Technology (ITC), FT-ICR-MS and neutron
reflectometry. In addition to this experimental work,
dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) modelling will be
carried out to better understand structure of these
systems.
Combines electrocoalescence and chemicals to improve
oil-water separation by performing experiments at
various scales followed up by modelling. The new
destabilizing agent classes will be developed in
collaboration with chemical vendors (AkzoNobel and
NalcoChampion). These demulsifiers will be combined
with electrocoalescers and tested in large scales at
Wärtsilä Oil and Gas facilities.
The project will have Ugelstad Laboratory as host
institution with Prof. Johan Sjöblom as project manager
and will be conducted in collaboration with University of
Alberta, Canada (Prof. Zhenghe Xu), Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland (Prof.
Jan Vermant), and IFE (Prof. Roar Skartlien and Kenneth
Knudsen) with a strong implication from industrial
sponsors especially Wärtsilä Oil and Gas (Drs. Morad
Amarzguioui and Erik Bjørklund). The project is funded
by the Norwegian Research Council via a Petromask II
grant and by the following industrial sponsors:
AkzoNobel, NalcoCampion and Wärtsilä Oil and Gas. This
project will educate 3 PhD candidates and 1 post-doctor
as well as well as several master students.
INFLUENCE
OF
PRODUCT ION
AND
EOR
CHEMICALS ON PRODUCED WATER QUALITY -
FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE FLUIDS FOR
IMPROVED PRODUCED WATER MANAGEMENT,
PETROMAKS 2 (2016-2020)
The overall goal of the project is to investigate how
production and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) chemicals
influence produced water quality and treatment.
Production chemicals giving rise to poor produced water
quality is already an issue within the petroleum industry,
while the effects of EOR chemicals on the water quality
will increasingly become a challenge as chemical flooding
methods are likely to emerge in the years to come. There
is, however, a lack of systematic investigations focusing
on how the use of the various chemicals affects the
produced water quality. Fundamental studies of
synergies between indigenous and added components in
produced water, the resulting interfacial phenomena
and ultimately the implications for produced water
treatment are areas of research which will be addressed
in this project. The studies will range from small-scale
interfacial studies to pilot-scale testing of produced
water treatment units, aiming at revealing underlying
mechanisms affecting produced water quality and
produced water treatment efficiency.
2 PhD candidates 1 post.doc and several master students
will be educated within the project. The industrial
partners are Statoil, Total and Schlumberger. In addition,
the Research Council of Norway will finance the project.