Oil-Water Separation in the Presence of Production Chemicals

The overarching goal of the project is to develop a physicochemical model representing the separation of oil and water in the presence of production chemicals. In particular, the production chemicals’ effects on the separation efficiency will be predicted via an empirical, phenomenological model, which is built upon a fluid dynamics study of the fundamental droplet coalescence effects. The resultant physicochemical model will then capture the coalescence efficiency on the basis of the chemical structure or by simple and independent measurements. Such a model could be used by oil and gas operators to predict the behavior of oil-water separators in the presence of certain production chemicals, therefore improving the management of production chemicals (e.g., screening if a certain new chemical can lead to major problems in oil-water separation before using it) and in the management of separators and preventing pitfalls.

The project objectives are:
(i) Extending the investigation of the oil-water separation kinetics in gravity settlers, in the presence of different surfactants, including commercial production chemicals of specific interest of TotalEnergies;
(ii) Developing a physicochemical model able to capture the effect of the surface-active chemicals on the coalescence of the dispersed phase.