Synergies between Asphaltene Stabilizers and Demulsifying Agents Giving Improved Demulsification of Asphaltene-Stabilized Emulsions

Asphaltenes are known to stabilize water-in-oil emulsions, making it more difficult to demulsify and desalt crude oils. Insufficiently demulsified or desalted crude oil can lead to process upsets in the operation of desalters and separator vessels. Asphaltene stability and the methods used in predicting them have been correlated to the ease of demulsification. Two case studies are presented that show the effects of chemical demulsifiers used alone and in combination with asphaltene stabilizers on the efficiency of demulsification operations. The data shows that the asphaltene stabilizer−demulsifier combination does a better job at demulsifying crude oils with asphaltene-stabilized emulsions than when demulsifiers are used alone. While the data shows the action of the asphaltene stabilizer−demulsifier combination is crude specific, a careful choice of such combinations through initial testing can go a long way at solving troublesome asphaltene-stabilized emulsion problems in both refineries and oilfield production operations.