Stable water-in-oil emulsions remain a significant challenge in the oil and gas industry. While conventional physical methods enable crude oil dehydration, their high energy demand underscores the need for chemical demulsifiers. However, selecting optimal formulations is often based on trial and error, making the process costly and time-consuming. To address this limitation, mixture Design of Experiments (DOE) is employed as a systematic and cost-effective approach to improve experimental design and streamline formulation selection. The efficiency of demulsification was assessed using the Bottle Test. A mathematical model was developed for mixture design, enabling the computational determination of the most effective proportions of the components. The model derived from the experimental design results proved to be statistically significant, providing practical insights into the demulsification process. Formulation J, composed of 67% Alkoxylated Resin, 17% EO/PO Copolymer, and 17% Xylene, achieved the highest water separation efficiency from the oil phase, reaching 91%.
Ferreira et al. (Sun,) studied this question.