Evaluation of aluminium oxide nano-particle based polymeric membrane for emulsified oil/water separation
Date
2021-08
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Federal University of Technology, Owerri
Abstract
Crude oil emulsion formation has become a prevalent problem in oilfield and causes significant flow assurance problems during production, treatment and transportation of crude oil. When emulsions occur, they create problems which are difficult to handle and lead to numerous operational challenges such as creating high pressure drops in pipes and/or flowlines, production of off-specification crude oil damages to separation equipment. Emulsions are formed when crude oil is mixed with water as a result of factors such as high rate of shear at the production wellhead and the presence of surface active agents which naturally are present in the crude oil. Emulsions are undesirable and require demulsification to remove the dispersed water and associated inorganic salt in order to meet production and transportation specifications. Furthermore, demulsification of crude oil prevents corrosion and catalyst poisoning and ultimately increases the profitability of the crude oil. The Aluminium oxide nanoparticle membrane was prepared using support materials which are Polysulfone and polyester fabric. These membrane materials have been doped with aluminum oxide nanoparticles to enhance the separation efficiency and reduce membrane fouling. A vacuum pump was used to apply pressure at 80% stroke and 60% stroke for each of the membrane materials respectively. The result show that the aluminum oxide based polymeric membrane emulsion separation process has high separation efficiency with Polysulfone under 60% stroke pressure application having the highest efficiency of 98.5% while Polyester membrane material has the lowest separation efficiency of 96.3% under 80% stroke pressure application. Also analyses of the permeation flux reveals that polystyrene membrane material gave the highest permeation flux of 2.433 ml/cm2 -min when a pressure of 80% stroke was applied to it, while Polysulfone material gave the lowest permeation flux of0.911 ml/cm2 -min under pressure application of 80% stroke. The Polymer membrane emulsion separation process is highly suitable for separation of oil-in-water emulsions. This work presents a new approach of emulsion separation that is cheap and efficient and does not require the costly chemical additions that in most cases also impact negatively on the ecosystem.
Description
Master's thesis on aluminium oxide nano-particle based polymeric membrane
Keywords
Emulsion, demulsification, Flow assurance Membrane, Nanoparticle, Department of Petrolium Engineering
Citation
Mbakaogu, C. D. (2021). Evaluation of aluminium oxide nano-particle based polymeric membrane for emulsified oil/ water separation. (Unpublished Master's Thesis). Federal University of Technology, Owerri.