Eco-friendly surfactant to demulsification water in oil emulsion: synthesis, characterization and application

• Main Authors: Saad, M.A., N. H., Abdurahman, Rosli, Mohd Yunus
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/31530/1/1-s2.0-S2405830020302871-main%20%282%29.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/31530/; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdc.2020.100582

The need to replace of petroleum-based oil field chemicals with materials sourced from natural products has received significant attention owing to the eco-friendliness of these nature-based materials. In this study, we focused on the synthesis of a surfactant for use as a demulsifier for a water-in-oil emulsion. The demulsifier was synthesised via conden- sation reactions of corn oil with diethanolamine in the presence of a catalyst. The sur- factant was characterised by FTIR, NMR, and GC–MS analyses. The separation efficiency of the surfactant was studied using bottle tests. The water separation from the emulsion 97% was achieved. The influence of the concentration and settling time on the demulsification efficiency was investigated. The result showed that increasing the concentration and set- tling time resulted in increased separation efficiency of the emulsion. The results of this investigation demonstrated the suitability of using corn oil in the synthesis of a surfactant as a demulsifier for crude oil emulsion. Nevertheless, more investigations are required to determine the mechanisms to optimise the system for industrial applications.