Abstract

Remediation of water in the course of crude oil production has been a costly process and it has hampered the production activities in many parts of the world. In this research work, effective separation of emulsion using demulsifiers (castor oil and sulphuric acid) in six separate formulations was accessed. The result shows that using sulphuric acid as a demulsifier in 500 and 1000 revolution per minute in the centrifuge, 1.25 and 2.5% basis sediments of water was obtained. The same process was conducted using castor oil as the demulsifier and 2.5%, 6.25% basis sediments of water was obtained. Conclusively, the resultant separation technique can be used for the separation of emulsion.

Key words: Demulsifiers, castor oil and sulphuric acid, emulsion, sediment.