Dewatering of Crude Oil Emulsion Using Synthetic Polymeric Surfactant

Abstract

The objective of this work is to remove water from crude oil emulsion W/O by using a polymeric Gemini surfactant that is synthesized through the ring-opening polymerization of phthalic anhydride and ethylenediamine. Physical parameters of crude oil from the Nasiriya refinery, such as specific gravity, water content, viscosity, density, sulfur content, and sediment, were determined in the laboratory. The synthesized polymer has an average molecular weight equal to 3558 g/mol at K = 0.0002 and α = 0.76. Fourier transform infrared spectra were examined to identify the active groups in the polymer. The conductivity method was applied to determine the polymer's critical micelle concentration (CMC). It has been discovered that the conductivity of synthetic polymers is directly related to the concentration of polymers. High thermal stability was found in the produced polymer according to the thermal stability study (TGA and DTA) curves. The best result for extracting water from crude oil, as determined by the method of Karl Fisher, was 73.3% at 100 ppm after 30 min.