Oilfield Chemicals - Why are Demulsifiers and Corrosion Inhibitors used in an Oilfield?
In an oilfield oil and gas is produced from the wells using different methods and equipments. In order to improve efficiency of the processes and reduce the maintenance of the equipment various types of chemicals are used in oilfield. The two basic oilfield chemicals or products used for efficient oil production processes are demulsifiers and corrosion inhibitors.
Demulsifier – Water Soluble Demulsifier, Oil Soluble Demulsifier
Demulsifier is a kind of specialty chemical which separates emulsions. For this reason a demulsifier has also got the name as emulsion breaker. The oil-water emulsions which are produced in oilfield, are hard and almost not possible to separate manually can be easily separated using demuslfiers. The crude oil produced from drilling of oil wells in oilfield is usually accompanied with water and salt as its impurities. Therefore demulsifiers are used in oilfield to remove these water and salts from the crude oil to purify it for further processes. A demulsifier functions by destabilizing the water-in-oil emulsion. It destabilizes water and solid micro-particles with increasing the density change to separate them out from crude oil.
The oilfield demulsifier used in processing of crude oil is injected in proper dosage in the filled crude oil water mixer tank. Mixing is carried through pump variable based on the tank size and amount of mixer. After the defined time as contents in the tank settle water and oil are separated therefore giving oil free of water for further processing.
There are mainly two variants of demulsifiers – water soluble demulsifier and oil soluble demulsifiers. The water soluble demulsifiers which are also known as salt removal demulsifiers are usually non toxic, non inflammable substances which have the capability to separate the salts or saline water from the oil produced in the oilfield. Both water and oil soluble demulsification products are used in treatment of water-in-oil or oil in-water emulsions to make the sludge stable by removing solid materials from it.
Water Soluble Corrosion Inhibitors
Corrosion is a common problem in oilfield where usually steel and metal equipments like pipes, tubing, casing and other accessories are used that are highly susceptible to corrosion. In an oilfield the produced crude oil is transmitted through a network of pipeline. This oil contains impurities like hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide etc which when react with metal surfaces result in corrosion. Therefore in order to safeguard the pipelines and equipment in oilfields, water soluble corrosion inhibitors are used. A water soluble corrosion inhibitor includes long chain amines, amides or imidazoline kind of ingredients which can control the rate of corrosion by forming a thin layer or film on the surface of the material. This layer acts as a barrier between the corrosion causing substance and corrosive equipments and thus corrosion is controlled. These pipeline corrosion inhibitors can safeguard the network of pipes in an oilfield from corrosion caused due to factors like water, biological deposits, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and other organic acids associated with drilling in an oil-field.
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This article has been written by Govindbhai Mathurdas Patel.
