Interfacial and Emulsion Stabilizing Properties of Indigenous Acidic and Esterified Asphaltenes

This article describes interfacial properties of acidic asphaltenes and their ability to stabilize emulsions. Asphaltenes extracted from crude oil were esterified with methanol to prevent ionization of carboxylic acid at high pH. Interfacial tension (IFT) between water and asphaltenes in xylene was significantly lower in basic than in acidic and neutral media, while the elasticity of the corresponding films was higher. These results are consistent with much more stable asphaltene-based emulsions in basic medium. For ester-asphaltenes, the IFT only showed a slight decrease under basic conditions and the interfacial elasticity was close to that in acidic solutions and only slightly higher than for neutral medium. While the asphaltene-stabilized emulsions showed a strong increase in stability in basic medium, this increase was much less for ester-asphaltene emulsions. Salt influenced the interfacial properties and generally reduced emulsion stability.