A dually prewetted membrane for continuous filtration of water-in-light oil, oil-in-water, and water-in-heavy oil multiphase emulsion mixtures

An underwater superoleophobic and underoil superhydrophobic dually prewetted membrane can be used in various continuous separation processes of water-in-light oil, oil-in-water, and water-in-heavy oil multiphase emulsion mixtures.

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pH-RESPONSIVE WOOD SLICES FOR THE CONTINUOUS SEPARATION OF LIGHT OIL/WATER/HEAVY OIL TRIPHASE MIXTURES

Química Nova ◽

10.21577/0100-4042.20170780 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yanbiao Zhou ◽

Kaige Qua ◽

Lihui Zhang ◽

Ming La

Keyword(s):

Heavy Oil ◽

Industrial Wastewater ◽

Separation Efficiency ◽

Treated Wood ◽

Continuous Separation ◽

Balsa Wood ◽

Ph Responsibility ◽

Light Oil ◽

Oil Water ◽

Blade Cutting

Light oil/water/heavy oil triphase mixtures are common in industrial wastewater, while nearly all separation materials with superwettability can only separate biphase mixtures of light oil/water or/and heavy oil/water. Here, a balsa wood slice with superhydrophilic/superoleophilic property in air was fabricated by a blade-cutting and ethanol-treating process. Therefore, the slice could be dually prewetted with both water and oil and thus showed underwater superoleophobic and underoil superhydrophobic properties without any further chemical modification. Such a slice showed underoil superhydrophobicity in nonbasic environment while transition into underoil superhydrophilicity under basic condition. Combining with the porous structure possessed by wood designed to transport liquids, this superwettability of the treated wood slice could be leveraged in the continuous separation of light oil/water/heavy oil triphase mixtures only driven by gravity with a high permeation flux and separation efficiency. After each separation, the slice was easily recovered by washing with acidic solution, and it could be recycled up to 15 times without any loss of pH responsibility. During repeated cycling separation, the slice exhibited excellent separation stability.

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A dual-functional layer modified GO@SiO2 membrane with excellent anti-fouling performance for continuous separation of oil-in-water emulsion

Journal of Hazardous Materials ◽

10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126681 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 126681

Author(s):

Lidong Feng ◽

Yue Gao ◽

Yan Xu ◽

Hongbing Dan ◽

Yuanfeng Qi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Layer ◽

Continuous Separation ◽

Water Emulsion ◽

Dual Functional ◽

Oil In Water ◽

Oil In Water Emulsion

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Research on heavy oil gas lift assisted with light oil injected from the annulus

Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology ◽

10.1007/s13202-018-0437-4 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 1465-1471 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

H. Q. Zhong ◽

S. Zhu ◽

W. G. Zeng ◽

X. L. Wang ◽

F. Zhang

Keyword(s):

Heavy Oil ◽

Light Oil ◽

Oil Gas ◽

Gas Lift

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Pore-Scale Transport Mechanisms and Macroscopic Displacement Effects of In-Situ Oil-in-Water Emulsions in Porous Media

Journal of Energy Resources Technology ◽

10.1115/1.4040200 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 140 (10) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Chuan Lu ◽

Wei Zhao ◽

Yongge Liu ◽

Xiaohu Dong

Keyword(s):

Porous Media ◽

Oil Recovery ◽

Heavy Oil ◽

Mobility Control ◽

Pore Scale ◽

Sweep Efficiency ◽

Emulsion Droplets ◽

Oil In Water ◽

Retention Volumes

Oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions are expected to be formed in the process of surfactant flooding for heavy oil reservoirs in order to strengthen the fluidity of heavy oil and enhance oil recovery. However, there is still a lack of detailed understanding of mechanisms and effects involved in the flow of O/W emulsions in porous media. In this study, a pore-scale transparent model packed with glass beads was first used to investigate the transport and retention mechanisms of in situ generated O/W emulsions. Then, a double-sandpack model with different permeabilities was used to further study the effect of in situ formed O/W emulsions on the improvement of sweep efficiency and oil recovery. The pore-scale visualization experiment presented an in situ emulsification process. The in situ formed O/W emulsions could absorb to the surface of pore-throats, and plug pore-throats through mechanisms of capture-plugging (by a single emulsion droplet) and superposition-plugging or annulus-plugging (by multiple emulsion droplets). The double-sandpack experiments proved that the in situ formed O/W emulsion droplets were beneficial for the mobility control in the high permeability sandpack and the oil recovery enhancement in the low permeability sandpack. The size distribution of the produced emulsions proved that larger pressures were capable to displace larger O/W emulsion droplets out of the pore-throat and reduce their retention volumes.

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