Stability of water–Boscan crude oil emulsions: Effect of salts, alcohols and glycols

The stability of oil–water emulsions was studied using salts, alcohols and glycols. The studies of the type and concentration of salt showed that as the charge of the cation or anion increases a greater number of unstable emulsions are obtained. When the number of hydroxyl groups present in the alcohols and glycols increases, emulsions obtained separate quickly and wider compositional ranges are obtained. The demulsifying-glycol–salt synergy showed that a large synergistic zone is obtained when the charge of the anion is increased. The presence of salts, such as sodium sulfate and sodium phosphates, increases the low stability region where the emulsions formulated separates in less than 5 min.