Rheological behavior and microstructural properties of crude oil and emulsions (water/oil-oil/water)

Abstract

An experimental study on crude oil (from the Tin Fouye Tabankort oil field in southern Algeria) was carried out. This study allowed us to understand the rheological behavior of this crude oil with these different emulsions and how it reacts under the effects of temperature and the inversion of its phase from E/H to H/E. So we measured the rheological characteristics by tests flow and dynamic mode at different temperatures from 10 °C to 50 °C and at different water concentrations (20.40.50.60 and 70%) at a fixed temperature of 20 °C. The increase in temperature results in a 31.84% reduction in the initial viscosity of the crude oil. The addition of the volumic fractions of water results in an increase in viscosity at the point of inverse, which will decrease the apparent viscosity of these emulsions where the emulsions (W/O) come from (O/W). This crude oil and their emulsions exhibit a non-Newtonian behavior with shear thinning. The dynamic analysis depends on the temperature and the percentages of water added to the crude oil. At the end, a microscopic analysis was added to verify the relationship between the shape and diameter of the water droplets in each emulsion and the viscosity variation.