Adaptation of Test Methodology and the Evolution of a Demulsifier Formulation for a Heavy Oil Start-Up

Selection of "first fill" demulsifiers for new, undeveloped, oil fields has significant limitations, typically relying on data from test work with synthetic emulsion created in a laboratory using highly contaminated drilling samples of crude oil. Additional separation challenges related to offshore production of high viscosity, low API crude oil, from a low temperature reservoir results in a low probability of success in selecting a suitable first fill demulsifier using the traditional bottle test alone. To give improved speed of oil/water separation, water quality, interface quality and top oil dehydration, samples of chemical free oil and produced water were used to screen alternative existing products against the base case demulsifier via bottle testing. The emulsions were created using a high shear stirrer to mimic the system conditions of the wells coming online and water droplet size within the emulsion was determined via cross polarizing thermal microscopy. For the purposes of these tests, demulsifier performance was ranked on speed and completeness of separation, interface quality, water quality and grind out (BS&W) characteristics. Several differences were observed between the initial and subsequent test work. The low shear emulsion created in the early work was found to be very unstable, separating easily with no residual emulsion in the crude oil. The emulsion created under high shear conditions gave a much closer correlation in terms of water droplet distribution to that measured during the field test and resulted in a much more stable emulsion that was more difficult to separate and typically left unresolved emulsion in the oil after the bulk of the water had separated. Whilst the original demulsifier recommendation was still able to facilitate separation it was found that it was no longer the optimum product, with other previously disregarded products able to provide a higher level of performance on the high shear emulsion. This paper demonstrates that a higher level of performance was achieved with an enhanced screening process, namely through high shear stirring and confirmation of water droplet size within the emulsion. When added to the standard bottle testing conditions, the development of demulsifiers can better ensure an optimum result, fit for purpose for the application.