Effect of Salinity, pH, and Temperature on Stability of Gas Condensate in Water Emulsions Using Different Surfactants

Light hydrocarbons in water emulsions are formed in many gas refinery wastewaters, and its stability depends on some parameters such as temperature, pH and salinity. In this study, different surfactants have been used to prepare gas condensates in water emulsion along with four surfactant kinds namely, Span 80, Tween 80, CTAB, SDS and Span 80 and Tween 80 mixture. For this purpose, the effects of temperature (25 and 60° C), pH (3, 5, 7 and 11) and salinity (2, 10 and 26 wt. % NaCl in water) on the stability of the emulsion have been studied. In order to evaluate the stability of these emulsions, the droplet size distribution was measured by an optical microscope. The results confirm that the increasing of salinity, as well as temperature of non-ionic surfactants (Such as Span 80 and Tween 80), lead to more stability of the emulsion. The increasing temperature didn’t have a dominant effect on the stability of those emulsions which contain the ionic surfactants i.e., CTAB and SDS. Those emulsions formed by the combination of Span 80 and Tween 80 are more stable than the other ones. Results of the investigation the effect of pH on the emulsion stability clear that the emulsions are less stable at high pH than other ones.