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Water versus Asphaltenes; Liquid-Liquid and Solid-Liquid Molecular Interactions Unravel the Mechanisms behind an Improved Oil Recovery Methodology.

ABSTRACT: Understanding of possible molecular interactions at liquid-liquid and solid-liquid interfaces can shed lights onto the nature's design and authorise fine manipulation aptitude in biological, manufacturing, microfluidic and oil recovery applications. Of particular interest is the capability to control the aggregation of organic and biological macromolecules, which typically poses significant challenges for oil industry and human life, respectively. Following asphaltene aggregation phenomenon through ?-stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions, asphaltene aggregates can form a thin layer at the crude oil-brine interface through noncovalent interactions such as -O-H···O hydrogen bonds and/or alter the wettability state of the solid surface from initially water-wet into mixed-oil wetting. Here, we probe the impact of water with variety of salinities and ion types on formation of water in oil micro-emulsions, asphaltene deposition, and induced water wettability transition at micro scale. For the first time we investigate the influence of water in oil micro-emulsions on asphaltene aggregation and deposition phenomena at elevated pressure and temperature conditions. We also monitor the micro-wettability alterations of gold surface of the QCM owing to ion valency/concentration changes using state of the art ESEM imaging facility. Our results depict that owing to the substitution of divalent cations with monovalent ones, asphaltene deposition is repelled and the solid surface becomes more hydrophilic, proposing a generalizable strategy to control wettability and an elucidation for the profitability of so-called low salinity water flooding, an enhanced oil recovery methodology. For the biological applications, this study provides insights into the potential roles of ions and hydrogen bonds in the protein deposition in tissues and self-assembly interactions and efficiency of drugs against protein aggregation drivers.

SUBMITTER: Joonaki E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6684611 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Water versus Asphaltenes; Liquid-Liquid and Solid-Liquid Molecular Interactions Unravel the Mechanisms behind an Improved Oil Recovery Methodology.

Joonaki Edris E Buckman Jim J Burgass Rod R Tohidi Bahman B

Scientific reports 20190806 1

Understanding of possible molecular interactions at liquid-liquid and solid-liquid interfaces can shed lights onto the nature's design and authorise fine manipulation aptitude in biological, manufacturing, microfluidic and oil recovery applications. Of particular interest is the capability to control the aggregation of organic and biological macromolecules, which typically poses significant challenges for oil industry and human life, respectively. Following asphaltene aggregation phenomenon thro ...[more]

PMID: 31388044

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Project description:Liquid-infused membranes have been introduced to membrane technology recently. The infusion liquid can be expelled, opening the pore, in response to an immiscible feed liquid pressure. In the open state, the pore wall is still covered with the infusion liquid forming the so-called liquid-lined pores. Liquid lining is expected to give anti-fouling properties to these membranes. The pressure-responsive pores can be used for efficient sorting of fluids from a mixture based on interfacial tension. For example, in a two-phase mixture of immiscible liquids, the required liquid entry pressure is different for the constituent liquids. Here, we investigate the capability of liquid-infused membranes for selective permeation of the dispersed phase, that is, oil from an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion. The separation experiments are conducted in a dead-end pressure-controlled filtration cell using liquid-infused and non-infused membranes. In order to permeate the dispersed phase, oil droplets should come in contact with the membrane surface which is accomplished here by gravity-driven creaming. Our results reveal that by setting the feed pressure between the entry pressure of oil and that of the surfactant solution, oil can be successfully permeated. For high concentrations of surfactants, water also permeated partly. The amount of water permeated through liquid-infused membranes is lower than that through non-infused membranes, caused by the corresponding interfacial tensions. The results suggest that the presence of the infusion liquid in the membrane gives rise to the formation of three-phase interfaces in the pore, namely, the interface between surfactant solution-oil (γ12) and that between oil-infusion liquid (γ23). Based on the interfacial energy contributions, the additional interface between oil and the infusion liquid gives rise to an increase in the liquid entry pressure for the surfactant solution based on the combined interfacial tension (γ12 + γ23) leading to less water permeation.

Dataset Information

Water versus Asphaltenes; Liquid-Liquid and Solid-Liquid Molecular Interactions Unravel the Mechanisms behind an Improved Oil Recovery Methodology.

Publications

Water versus Asphaltenes; Liquid-Liquid and Solid-Liquid Molecular Interactions Unravel the Mechanisms behind an Improved Oil Recovery Methodology.

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