Development and Evaluation of Novel Emulsion and Foam Breakers for Chemical EOR Applications

Emulsion and foam are sometimes quite persistent in the oil field and can create numerous operational challenges in production facilities. Demulsifier and defoamers can play a role in demulsification and defoaming during field chemical treatments. There is demand for efficient and easily available emulsion and foam breakers for emulsion and foam issues especially during chemical stimulation/EOR flowback. The current inventory of commercially available oil field emulsion and foam breakers are typically not tailored to manage the complex chemistry of enhanced oil recovery. Identification of breakers tailored for chemical stimulation/EOR efforts is therefore essential for successful improved oil recovery. In this study, liquid and easily available partitioning agents were tested as emulsion and foam breakers with selective surfactants mixtures. Water soluble partitioning agents with relatively high partition coefficients were shown to be better foam and emulsion breakers compared to agents with low partition coefficients. The effectiveness of a partitioning agent in breaking foam and emulsions can vary depending on both temperature and salinity. Partitioning agents such as aryl-based chemicals tend to produce additional layer heavier than water during the emulsion breaking process due to oil interactions and should be avoided until further research is completed.