O. Urdahl et al., ELECTROSTATIC DESTABILIZATION OF WATER-IN-OIL EMULSIONS UNDER CONDITIONS OF TURBULENT-FLOW, Chemical engineering research & design, 74(A2), 1996, pp. 158-165
The influence of a 50 Hz electric field on chemically stabilized water
-in-oil emulsions has been investigated. The parameters which have bee
n varied are electric field strength, water concentration, surfactant
concentration and residence time in the electric field. The Volume Med
ian Diameter (VMD) of the disperse aqueous droplets, while varying the
different parameters, has been determined using a Malvern particle si
zer. The results show that this can be a very efficient and rapid way
of breaking water-in-oil emulsions. The main significance of the data
is that electrocoalescence has been shown to be highly effective under
turbulent flow conditions. For many of the experiments conducted, esp
ecially at the low water cuts, the increase in VMD during flow through
the electrocoalescer (average residence time 7 seconds at an emulsion
flow rate of 601 min(-1)) is a factor of about 10.