Enhanced effectiveness of oil dispersants in destabilizing water-in-oil emulsions.

Enhanced effectiveness of oil dispersants in destabilizing water-in-oil emulsions.

Blog Article

Oil impacting the northern Gulf of Mexico shoreline from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident was predominantly in the form of water-in-oil emulsions (WOE), a chemically weathered, highly viscous, neutrally buoyant material.Once formed, WOE are extremely difficult to destabilize.Commercially-available oil dispersants are largely ineffective de-emulsifiers as a result of the inability of dispersant surfactants Tweed Skirts to displace asphaltenes stabilizing the oil-water interface.

This study investigated the effectiveness of the commercially-available dispersant Corexit 9500A, modified to enhance its polar fraction, in destabilizing WOE.Results suggest that Corexit modified to include between 20-60% fractional amount of either polar additive (1-octanol or hexylamine) will produce a modest increase in WOE instability, with a Corexit to hexylamine ratio of approximately 80/20 providing the most effective enhanced destabilization.Results support the hypothesis that modifying the fraction of polar constituents display touch pad console in commercial dispersants will increase asphaltene solubility, decrease oil-water interface stability, and enhance WOE instability.