Experimental and numerical analysis of the emulsification of oil droplets in water with high frequency focused ultrasound.

Focused high frequency ultrasound emulsification provides significant benefits such as enhanced stability, finer droplets, elevated focal pressure, lowered power usage, minimal surfactant usage and improved dispersion. Hence, in this study, the high frequency focused ultrasound emulsification of oil droplets in water was investigated through experiments and numerical modeling. The effect of transducer power (74-400 W), frequency (1.1 and 3.3 MHz), oil viscosity (10.6-512 mPas), interfacial tension (25-250 mN/m) and initial droplet radius (10-750 µm) on the emulsification process was assessed. In addition, the mechanism of droplet break-up was examined. The experiments showed that the acoustic pressure increased from 9.01 MPa to 26.24 MPa as the power was raised from 74 W to 400 W. At 74 W, the Weber number (We) at the surface and focal zone are 0.5 and 939.8, respectively. However, at 400 W, the We at the transducer surface and focal region reached 2.7 and 6451.8, respectively. Thus, bulb-like and weak catastrophic break up dominates the emulsification at 74 W. The catastrophic break up at 400 W is more vigorous because the ultrasound disruptive stress and We are higher. The time for the catastrophic dispersion of a single droplet at We = 939.8 and We = 6451.8 are 1.01 ms and 0.45 ms, respectively. The numerical model gives reasonable prediction of the trend and magnitude of the experimental acoustic pressure data. The surface and focal pressure amplitudes were estimated with errors of âˆ¼ 6.5% and âˆ¼ 10%, respectively. The predicted Reynolds number (Re) between 74 and 400 W were 8442 and 21364, respectively. The acoustic pressure at the focal region were âˆ¼ 26 MPa and âˆ¼ 69 MPa at frequencies of 1.1 MHz and 3.3 MHz, respectively. Moreover, the acoustic velocities were âˆ¼ 16 m/s and âˆ¼ 42 m/s at 1.1 MHz and 3.3 MHz, respectively. Hence, smaller droplets could be attained at higher frequency excitation under intense catastrophic modes. The Ohnesorge number (Oh) increased from 0.062 to 3.12 with the viscosity between 10.6 mPas and 530 mPas. However, the We remained constant at 856.14 for the studied range. Generally, higher critical We is required for the different breakup stages as the viscosity ratio is elevated. Moreover, the We increased from 25.68 to 1284.22 as the droplet radius was elevated from 15 to 750 µm. Larger droplets allow for higher possibility and intensity of breakup due to diminished viscous and interfacial resistance.

Techno-economic comparative assessment of the ultrasound, electrostatic and microwave supported coalescence of binary water droplets in crude oil.

In this study, comparative assessment of the technical performance, energy usage and economic impact of ultrasound, electrostatics and microwave on the coalescence of binary water droplets in crude oil was conducted. The effect of different oil properties such as crude oil viscosity (10.6-106 mPa s) and interfacial tension (IFT) (20-250 mN/m) on the coalescence time and energy consumption was examined. In addition, operation conditions such as inlet emulsion flow velocity (10-100 mm/s), electric field type, ultrasound frequency and applied voltage amplitude (0-30 kV) were evaluated. The numerical models showed good agreement with experimental findings in the literature. Moreover, the process time of the dewatering process increased with rising inlet flow velocities. The elevation of the coalescence time with velocity can be attributed to the increasing effect of flow disturbance, and the reduction of the emulsion residence time. As regards the IFT, the coalescence time reduced as the IFT was increased. This can be associated with the improved stability of emulsions formed at lowered IFT. As the maximum droplet size is directly proportional to the IFT, lowering the IFT reduces the peak diameter of the droplets that are present in the emulsion. Moreover, the coalescence time followed the order: ultrasound < microwave < electrostatics approaches under varying IFT. The coalescence energy increased from ∼15 J, ∼90 J and ∼25 mJ to ∼61 J, ∼235 J and ∼26 mJ for microwave, electrostatics and ultrasound techniques, respectively, as the viscosity was raised from 10.6 to 106 mPa s. Ultrasound coalescence showed significant energy and economic savings in comparison to microwave and electro-coalescence. Hence, ultrasound coalescence would be a potential method for standalone or integrated demulsification over the two other techniques. However, there are indications that beyond a viscosity of 300 mPa s, the effect of ultrasound becomes weak with significant hindrance to droplet movement and accumulation. This analysis provides fundamental insights on the comparative behavior of the three emulsion separation techniques.

Numerical assessment of ultrasound supported coalescence of water droplets in crude oil.

In this study, a numerical assessment of the coalescence of binary water droplets in water-in-oil emulsion was conducted. The investigation addressed the effect of various parameters on the acoustic pressure and coalescence time of water droplets in oil phase. These include transducer material, initial droplet diameter (0.05-0.2 in), interfacial tension (0.012-0.082 N/m), dynamic viscosity (10.6-530 mPas), temperature (20-100 °C), US (ultra sound) frequency (26.04-43.53 kHz) and transducer power (2.5-40 W). The materials assessed are lead zirconate titanate (PZT), lithium niobate (LiNbO3), zinc oxide (ZnO), aluminum nitride (AlN), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and barium titanate (BaTiO3). The numerical simulation of the binary droplet coalescence showed good agreement with experimental data in the literature. The US implementation at a fixed frequency produced enhanced coalescence (t = 5.9-8.5 ms) as compared to gravitational settling (t = 9.8 ms). At different ultrasound (US) frequencies and transducer materials, variation in the acoustic pressure distribution was observed. Possible attenuation of the US waves, and the subsequent inhibitive coalescence effect under various US frequencies and viscosities, were discussed. Moreover, the results showed that the coalescence time reduced across the range of interfacial tensions which was considered. This reduction can be attributed to the fact that lower interfacial tension produces emulsions which are relatively more stable. Hence, at lower interface tension between the water and crude oil, there was more resistance to the coalescence of the water droplets due to their improved emulsion stability. The increment of the Weber number at higher droplet sizes leads to a delay in the recovery of the droplet to spherical forms after their starting deformation. These findings provide significant insights that could aid further developments in demulsification of crude oil emulsions under varying US and emulsion properties.

Recent developments, challenges, and prospects of ultrasound-assisted oil technologies.

There has been consistent drive towards research and innovation in oil production technologies in order to achieve improved effectiveness and efficiency in their operation. This drive has resulted in breakthrough in technologies such as the application of ultrasound (US) in demulsification and enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and usage of high-volume hydraulic fracturing and special horizontal well for shale oil and gas extraction. These can be observed in the increment in the number of commercial oil technologies such as EOR projects that rose from 237 in 1996 to 375 in 2017. This sustained expansion in EOR resulted in their total oil production rising from 1.5 million barrels per day in 2005 to 2.3 million barrels per day in 2020. And this is predicted to increase to about 4.7 million barrels per day in 2040, which represent about 4% of total production. Consequently, in this review, the developments in the utilization of US either as standalone or integrated with other technologies in EOR and dehydration of water in oil emulsions were analyzed. The studies include the optimization of fluid and US properties in EOR and demulsification. Reports on the treatment of formation damage resulting from inorganic salts, organic scales, drilling fluid plugs, condensate, paraffin wax and colloidal particle with US-assisted EOR were also highlighted. Moreover, the mechanisms were examined in order to gain insightful understanding and to aid research investigations in these areas. Technologies such as US assisted green demulsification, high intensity focused ultrasound, and potential pathways in field studies were assessed for their feasibilities. It is essential to evaluate these technologies due to the significant accrued benefits in them. The usage of green demulsifiers such as deep eutectic solvents, ionic liquids and bio-demulsifiers has promising future outlook and US could enhance their technical advancement. HiFU has been applied successfully in clinical research and developments in this area can potentiality improve demulsification and interfacial studies (fluid-fluid and solid-fluid interactions). As regards field studies, there is need to increase actual well investigations because present reports have few on-site measurements with most studies being in laboratory scale. Furthermore, there is need for more detailed modeling of these technologies as it would assist in conserving resources, saving research time and fast-tracking oil production. Additional evaluative studies of conditions such as the usage of Raschig rings, crude oil salinity and high temperature which have improved demulsification of crude oil emulsions should be pursued.

A Multimodal Image Reconstruction Method Using Ultrasonic Waves and Electrical Resistance Tomography.

In this paper, a new system that improves the image obtained by an array of ultrasonic sensors using electrical resistance tomography (ERT) is presented. One of its target applications can be in automatic exploration of soft tissues, where different organs and eventual anomalies exhibit simultaneously different electrical conductivities and different acoustic impedances. The exclusive usage of the ERT technique usually leads to some significant uncertainties around the regions' boundaries and usually generates images with relatively low resolutions. The proposed method shows that by properly combining this technique with an ultrasonic-based method, which can provide good localization of some edge points, the accuracy of the shape of individual cells can be improved, if these edge points are used as constraints during the inversion procedure. The performance of the proposed reconstruction method was assessed by conducting extensive tests on some simulated phantoms which mimic soft tissues. The obtained results clearly show the outperformance of this method over single modalities techniques that use either ultrasound or ERT imaging.

An extended model for ultrasonic-based enhanced oil recovery with experimental validation.

This paper suggests a new ultrasonic-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) model for application in oil field reservoirs. The model is modular and consists of an acoustic module and a heat transfer module, where the heat distribution is updated when the temperature rise exceeds 1 °C. The model also considers the main EOR parameters which includes both the geophysical (i.e., porosity, permeability, temperature rise, and fluid viscosity) and acoustical (e.g., acoustic penetration and pressure distribution in various fluids and mediums) properties of the wells. Extended experiments were performed using powerful ultrasonic waves which were applied for different kind of oils & oil saturated core samples. The corresponding results showed a good matching with those obtained from simulations, validating the suggested model to some extent. Hence, a good recovery rate of around 88.2% of original oil in place (OOIP) was obtained after 30 min of continuous generation of ultrasonic waves. This leads to consider the ultrasonic-based EOR as another tangible solution for EOR. This claim is supported further by considering several injection wells where the simulation results indicate that with four (4) injection wells; the recovery rate may increase up-to 96.7% of OOIP. This leads to claim the high potential of ultrasonic-based EOR as compared to the conventional methods. Following this study, the paper also proposes a large scale ultrasonic-based EOR hardware system for installation in oil fields.

Oil-water de-emulsification using ultrasonic technology.

In this paper an oil-water de-emulsification process within large tanks using ultrasonic technology is presented. As the device would operate in hazardous areas, it should not consume an excessive amount of electrical power. Hence, the paper investigates the suitable oil-water concentrations (10-90% concentrations in step of 10%) which would lead to the fastest separation while consuming the minimum amount of power. Extensive experiments which were conducted using a powerful 20kHz ultrasonic sensor were indicative with good repeatability that the emulsion layer with less water content (i.e. 10 to 40% water-cut) gets significantly faster separation. The experimental study was then validated through a set of finite element-based simulations for different ratios of oil water emulsions. This led to suggest a new feasible de-emulsifying device which consists of a one dimensional array of ultrasonic sensors which are vertically distributed to emit ultrasonic waves in horizontal direction and in a time multiplexed manner.

An acoustic system for providing the two-phase liquid profile in oil field storage tanks.

The continuing need for in situ measurements of the emulsion layer between crude oil and water within oil field tanks has initiated experimental and theoretical investigations of candidate measurement methods. This paper describes a new low-cost and nonradioactive industrial field prototype device that provides, continuously and in real time, the vertical profile of the 2-phase liquid within oil field tank separators (i.e., percentage of water in oil at different heights of the tank, as well as the emulsion layer interfaces) using ultrasonic waves. The device, which has been installed in a vessel through an 8-in. flange, consists of a 1-D array of tens of ultrasonic transducers (28 transducers in this paper) that are activated in a time-multiplexed manner by an embedded transmitter fixed on the top of the tank. This latest version implements a feedforward neural network with back-propagation learning to determine the vertical water-cut distribution along the vessel. It also implements an expert-system-based algorithm to determine the lower and higher positions of the emulsion layer. The results obtained from the extensive experiments, which have been conducted under various conditions of temperature, indicate that the device can determine the profile of the 2-phase liquid within a relative error of +/- 3%.