Mechanistic investigation of ultrasonic demulsification of water-in-oil emulsions.
9 affiliations
- 1National Key Laboratory of Continental Shale Oil, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China; Exploration and Development Research Institute of PetroChina, Daqing Oil Field Co Ltd, Daqing 163712, China; State Key Laboratory of Acoustics, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
- 2National Key Laboratory of Continental Shale Oil, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China.
- 3Exploration and Development Research Institute of PetroChina, Daqing Oil Field Co Ltd, Daqing 163712, China.
- 4Tech X Academy, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen 518055, China; School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Yunnan Open University, Kunming 650000, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
- 5Tech X Academy, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen 518055, China; School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Yunnan Open University, Kunming 650000, China.
- 6National Key Laboratory of Continental Shale Oil, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
- 7State Key Laboratory of Acoustics, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
- 8National Key Laboratory of Continental Shale Oil, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing 163318, China; Exploration and Development Research Institute of PetroChina, Daqing Oil Field Co Ltd, Daqing 163712, China.
- 9State Key Laboratory of Acoustics, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract
Oilfield-produced fluids commonly contain high water fractions and form stable water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions, complicating downstream treatment and resource recovery. In this paper, experimental characterization and numerical simulation were combined to elucidate the power-dependent mechanism of ultrasound-assisted chemical demulsification. We first optimized ultrasonic (US) power, irradiation time, and demulsifier concentration through an orthogonal experimental design and then conducted single-factor experiments to examine changes in dehydration efficiency, viscosity, and droplet characteristics. On this basis, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to relate the redistribution of light and heavy oil-phase components to droplet-morphology evolution, and a Pressure Acoustics, Frequency Domain model was finally developed in COMSOL Multiphysics to interpret the experimental observations in terms of acoustic-pressure distribution and cavitation-regime evolution. The results show that a maximum dehydration efficiency of 70.13 % was achieved at 80 %P, 9 min, and 75 ppm. With increasing US power, dehydration efficiency and mean droplet diameter first increased and then decreased, whereas droplet number exhibited the opposite trend and emulsion viscosity decreased continuously. CLSM revealed oil-phase component redistribution during water-droplet coalescence. Consistent with these experimental observations, the calibrated acoustic-field model indicated a larger region classified as effective cavitation at 80 %P and the emergence of regions classified as excessive cavitation at 100 %P under the adopted pressure thresholds. These findings suggest that effective cavitation promotes interfacial-film disruption and droplet coalescence, whereas excessive cavitation induces droplet breakup and re-emulsification, explaining the non-monotonic dehydration response to US power.
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BibTeX
@article{gao2026mechanistic,
title = {{Mechanistic investigation of ultrasonic demulsification of water-in-oil emulsions.}},
author = {Jinbiao Gao and Jinying Bai and Ye Zhuang and Xianda Sun and Lun Zhao and Zeshan Abbas and Tingting Li and Yushen Wu and Haibo Zhao and Delong Xu},
journal = {Ultrasonics sonochemistry},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.ultsonch.2026.108099},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42858557},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Mechanistic investigation of ultrasonic demulsification of water-in-oil emulsions.
AU - Jinbiao Gao
AU - Jinying Bai
AU - Ye Zhuang
AU - Xianda Sun
AU - Lun Zhao
AU - Zeshan Abbas
AU - Tingting Li
AU - Yushen Wu
AU - Haibo Zhao
AU - Delong Xu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
JO - Ultrasonics sonochemistry
DO - 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2026.108099
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42858557
AB - Oilfield-produced fluids commonly contain high water fractions and form stable water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions, complicating downstream treatment and resource recovery. In this paper, experimental characterization and numerical simulation were combined to elucidate the power-dependent mechanism of ultrasound-assisted chemical demulsification. We first optimized ultrasonic (US) power, irradiation time, and demulsifier concentration through an orthogonal experimental design and then conducted single-factor experiments to examine changes in dehydration efficiency, viscosity, and droplet characteristics. On this basis, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to relate the redistribution of light and heavy oil-phase components to droplet-morphology evolution, and a Pressure Acoustics, Frequency Domain model was finally developed in COMSOL Multiphysics to interpret the experimental observations in terms of acoustic-pressure distribution and cavitation-regime evolution. The results show that a maximum dehydration efficiency of 70.13 % was achieved at 80 %P, 9 min, and 75 ppm. With increasing US power, dehydration efficiency and mean droplet diameter first increased and then decreased, whereas droplet number exhibited the opposite trend and emulsion viscosity decreased continuously. CLSM revealed oil-phase component redistribution during water-droplet coalescence. Consistent with these experimental observations, the calibrated acoustic-field model indicated a larger region classified as effective cavitation at 80 %P and the emergence of regions classified as excessive cavitation at 100 %P under the adopted pressure thresholds. These findings suggest that effective cavitation promotes interfacial-film disruption and droplet coalescence, whereas excessive cavitation induces droplet breakup and re-emulsification, explaining the non-monotonic dehydration response to US power.
SN - 1350-4177
SN - 1873-2828
ER -