Liquid Crystals from Crude Oil Emulsion Fractions Angela Camila Duncke1*, Gizele Batalha de Freitas¹, Angel Bassini da Silva2, Márcio Nele1 1 Federal
University of Rio de Janeiro de Almeida University *
[email protected]
2 Veiga
Abstract During crude oil production, large quantities of water are used. This water can be original from the well or injection water. Due to the density difference between water and oil and the turbulent flow regime, emulsions are formed. These emulsions can cause serious problems as well as generate high costs with separation processes. Thus, unstable emulsions are preferred, while stable emulsions are undesirable. It is known that in cosmetic emulsions, the presence of lamellar liquid crystals (LC) increases the stability (KLEIN, 2008), but not much is known about the presence of CL in petroleum emulsions. Duncke et al. (2016) visualized LCs in Brazilian petroleum emulsions using polarized light microscopy for the first time (Figure 1). The lamellar LC in crude oil emulsions presents a Maltese cross pattern. In this study, the presence of waxes, aqueous fraction, and the presence of salt (NaCl 35.0 g/L) were evaluated in four Brazilian crude oils provided by Petrobras.
Figure 1 – First polarized light micrograph of lamellar liquid crystal, highlighting Maltese cross patterns.
In addition, factors such as pH of the aqueous phase, cation valence, and cation volume, have been evaluated in order to verify their influence on the formation of liquid crystalline structures. However, more in-depth studies on the structure of these CLs are needed. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized light optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction are the main techniques
used to characterize this type of material. The aim of this work is to obtain more information about the X-ray technique, in order to verify the possibility of application to the oil and water emulsified systems. References Klein, K. Liquid crystals and emulsions: a wonderful marriage. In: Skin Barrier: Chem. Of Delivery Syst., (2008) 265. Duncke, A. C. P.; Marinho, T. O.; Barbato, C. N.; Freitas, G. B.; Oliveira, M. C. K.; Nele, M. Energy Fuels, 30 (5) (2016), 3815.
