Open Access Research Article Journal of Petroleum & Environmental Biotechnology J o u r n a l o f P e t r o l e u m & E n v ir o n m e n t a l B i o t e c h n o l o g y ISSN: 2157-7463 Amani et al., J Pet Environ Biotechnol 2017, 8:3 D0I: 10.4172/2157-7463.1000330 Volume 8 • Issue 3 • 1000330 J Pet Environ Biotechnol, an open access journal ISSN: 2157-7463 Abstract An emulsion is the mixture of two immiscible fluids, where one fluid appears as droplets within another. In the oil and gas industry, produced crude oil generally comes with an appreciable amount of water within it in an emulsified form. Before produced crude oil can be prepared for purchase, the water associated with it must be removed. A process known as demulsification is required in order to separate an emulsion into its two phases. In the industry, a number of demulsification techniques are already present; these include thermal, mechanical, chemical, and electrical techniques. Crude oil and gas produced from wells originally come with water, salts, and volatile gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and sometimes hydrogen sulfide, etc. Hence, the petroleum mixture needs to be refined-water, salt, and non-hydrocarbon gases to be separated from the mixture, in order to meet certain oil and gas specifications (which state the maximum concentrations of such contaminants) and make it ready for purchase and transportation. Sonication provides a cheap, simple, and harmless (as it involves mainly the propagation of sound waves) way of separating crude oils from water droplets via demulsification. In addition, if needed, it can be used for emulsification processes as well. Hence, a study of sonification as a way for crude refinement or chemical mixing has important implications for the oil and gas. This investigation proposes the use of ultrasonication as a new and cost-effective technique to aid in the demulsification of crude oil emulsion. The effectiveness of this technique was gauged through its comparison to the already present methods in the industry. Based on the investigation it was found that centrifuge served as the best demulsification method for it reduced the turbidity by 86%. In addition, the reduced turbidity achieved with proposed ultrasonication method ranges from 20%-60%. An Experimental Study on the Application of Ultrasonic Technology for Demulsifying Crude Oil and Water Emulsions Mahmood Amani*, Idris M, Abdul Ghani M, Dela Rosa N, Carvero A and Yrac R Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar Keywords: Ultrasonic; Crude oil; Emulsions Significance In the production of crude oil, usually a significant amount of water is also produced. Many times, this water and oil mixture is in the form of emulsions. Emulsion separation is very time consuming, requires additional surface facilities and can be very costly. Any new method that can increase the efficiency of this process and or provide a cheaper method would be very much helpful to the petroleum industry. Objective e objective of this research is to investigate the potential use of ultrasonication as a new and cost-effective technique to aid in the demulsification of crude oil emulsion. is research is looking at various existing techniques and will focus on the use of ultrasonic waves as a potential technique for emulsion separation. Introduction More than thirty percent of all crude oil produced in the world comes to the surface with an appreciable amount of water in an emulsified form [1]. A recurring issue in the oil industry is the separation of water from produced oil, its significance as an issue “is shown by an estimated 15-20 million dollars expended for chemicals each year to treat the world’s oil production” [2]. An emulsion is defined as the dispersion of one liquid as droplets in another immiscible liquid. e water-in- oil emulsion (W/O) that occurs because of crude oil production is the most common oil emulsion that is discussed in the industry and is the focus of this investigation; however, oil emulsions can come in many forms. e second most common form of oil emulsions is oil-in- water, sometimes referred to as reverse emulsions (Figure 1). Emulsions can also occur in more complex manners such water-in-oil-in-water, illustrated in Figure 2, where the droplets themselves house a third immiscible liquid. In order to make the produced crude oil ready for purchase and transportation, the crude oil needs to be refined – water, other * Corresponding author: Mahmood Amani, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Qatar, Tel: 974-5583-7368; E-mail: mahmood.amani@qatar.tamu.edu Received May 25, 2017; Accepted June 15, 2017; Published June 21, 2017 Citation: Amani M, Idris M, Abdul Ghani M, Dela Rosa N, Carvero A, et al. (2017) An Experimental Study on the Application of Ultrasonic Technology for Demulsifying Crude Oil and Water Emulsions. J Pet Environ Biotechnol 7: 330. doi: 10.4172/2157-7463.1000330 Copyright: © 2017 Amani M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Figure 1: Photomicrograph of a W/O emulsion and a W/O/W emulsion.