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Pipeline transportation of viscous crudes as

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Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 139144

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/petrol

Pipeline transportation of viscous crudes as concentrated

oil-in-water emulsions
N.H. Abdurahman a,n, Y.M. Rosli a, N.H. Azhari b, B.A. Hayder a
a
b

Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering, University Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Malaysia
Faculty of Industrial Sciences and Technology, University Malaysia Pahang (UMP), Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o

abstract

Article history:
Received 24 February 2011
Accepted 30 April 2012
Available online 15 May 2012

Stable concentrated oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions were prepared and their application for heavy oil
pipeline transportation was investigated using very viscous Malaysian heavy crude oil. Two Malaysian
heavy crude oil samples, Tapis and a blend of Tapis and Masilla, were used to produce heavy crude oilin-water emulsions. The diverse factors affecting the properties and stability of emulsions were
investigated. There was a restricted limit of 68 vol% and 72 vol% for crude oil content in the emulsions,
and beyond that limit, the emulsion underwent phase inversion. The study revealed that the stability of
the oil-in-water emulsion stabilized by Triton X-100 increases as the surfactant concentration
increases, with a subsequent decrease in the crude oilwater interfacial tension (IFT). Increasing the
oil content, the speed and duration of mixing, the salt concentration and the pH of the aqueous phase of
the emulsion resulted in increased emulsion stability, while increases in the temperature of the
homogenization process substantially reduced the viscosity of the prepared emulsions. Fresh water and
synthetic formation water were used to study the effect of aqueous phase salinity on the stability and
viscosity of the emulsion. The results showed that it was possible to form stable emulsions with
synthetic formation water characterized by a low dynamic shear viscosity.
& 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
pipeline
viscosity
stability
oil-in-water emulsions
heavy crude oil

1. Introduction
With the combination of an increase in world energy demand
and the decline of conventional oils, heavy crude oils have been
presented as a relevant hydrocarbons resource for use in the
future (Lanier, 1998). Hydrocarbon resources are very important
given that they account for approximately 65% of the worlds
overall energy resources (Langevin et al., 2004). Currently, crude
oil is the most important hydrocarbon resource in the world, and
heavy crudes account for a large fraction of the worlds potentially
recoverable oil reserves (Chilingar and Yen, 1980; Langevin et al.,
2004). However, heavy crude oils only account for a small portion
of the worlds oil production because of their high viscosities,
which cause problems in the transportation of these oils via
pipelines (Plegue et al., 1989). Historically, demand for heavy and
extra-heavy oil has been marginal because of their high viscosity
and composition complexity that make them difcult and expensive to produce, transport and rene. Nowadays, Alberta in
Canada and Orinoco Belt in Venezuela are good examples of
regions producing extra heavy oil. However, an increase in
production of heavy and extra crude oil will take place in several

Corresponding author. Fax: 60 95492889.

E-mail address: nour2000_99@yahoo.com (N.H. Abdurahman).

0920-4105/$ - see front matter & 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2012.04.025

regions like the Gulf of Mexico and Northeastern China, as it will

be needed over the next two decades to replace the declining
production of conventional middle and light oil. The production of
heavy crudes is expected to increase signicantly in the near
future as low viscosity crudes are depleted (Plegue et al., 1989).
Currently, there are three general approaches for transportation
of heavy and extra heavy oil: viscosity reduction, drag minimization and in-situ oil upgrading (Rafael et al., 2011). Several special
nonconventional methods for the transport of heavy oil have been
proposed, and they include preheating of the crude oil with
subsequent pipeline heating (Layrisse, 1998; Saniere et al.,
2004), dilution with lighter crude oils (Iona, 1978), partial
upgrading (MacWilliams and Eadie, 1993) and injection of a
water sheath around the viscous crude. Each of these methods
has logistic, technical or economic drawbacks.
Although it is often mentioned that the eld of hydroprocessing catalysis is mature and there are not much compasses for
researcher, the increasing demand of heavy oil has made hydroprocessing a challenging task for reners as well as for researchers (Rana et al., 2007). Parafn wax deposition costs the oil
industry billions of dollars worldwide for prevention and remediation. Parafn precipitation and deposition in crude oil transport ow-lines and pipelines is an increasing challenge for the
development of deepwater subsea hydrocarbon reservoirs. There
are several parafn wax treatment methods. The most common

140

N.H. Abdurahman et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 139144

removal methods are mechanical heat application using hot oil or

electrical heating, application of chemicals (e.g., solvents, pourpoint dispersants) and the use of microbial products.
Crude oil contains n-parafn waxes that tend to be separated
from oil when the temperature of crude oil falls below the wax
appearance temperature. With decreasing temperature, the
waxes generally crystallize as an interlocking network of the
sheets, thereby entrapping the remaining liquid fuel in cage-like
structures. When the temperature approaches the pour point,
the oil may gel completely causing the cold ow problems such
as blockage of ow pipes or production lines. The pour point is
the lowest temperature at which oil will ow freely under its
own weight under specic test conditions. Several methods
(Bernadiner, 1993; Hunt, 1996) have been available to improve
the low-temperature properties of crude oil. Pretreatment with
pour point depressants (PDD) is an attractive solution for transportation of waxy crude oils via pipelines.
Another promising pipeline technique is the transport of
viscous crudes as concentrated oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions
(Gregoli et al., 2006; Lappin and Saur, 1989). The technical
viability of this method was demonstrated in an Indonesia pipeline (Lamb and Simpson, 1963) and in a 20 km-long, 0.203-mdiameter pipeline in California. In this method, with the aid of
suitable surfactants, the oil phase becomes dispersed in the water
phase and stable oil-in-water emulsions are formed. The formation of an emulsion causes a signicant reduction in the emulsion
viscosity; even O/W emulsion might reduce corrosion with a
crude oil with high sulfur content; corrosion may also appear
with use of an aqueous phase, even with the use of formation
water, rich in salts. The produced emulsions have viscosities in
the range of approximately 0.050.2 Pa s. Because of this reduction in viscosity, the transportation costs and transport-assisted
problems are reduced. This method can be very effective in the
transportation of crude oils with viscosities higher than 1 Pa s
especially in cold regions. In addition, because water is the
continuous phase, crude oil has no contact with the pipe wall,
which reduces pipe corrosion for crudes with high sulfur contents
and prevents the deposition of sediments in pipes, as is common
for crudes with high asphaltene contents (Poynter and Tigrina,
1970). The possibility of injecting aqueous surfactant solution
into a well bore to affect emulsication in the pump or tubing for
the production of less viscous O/W emulsions will increase the
productivity of a reservoir (Simon and Poynter, 1968; Steinborn
and Flock, 1982).
The objective of the current research was to investigate the
various factors affecting the preparation of a stable crude O/W
emulsion for two Malaysian oil samples, Tapis crude oil and a
blend of Tapis and Masilla. The study investigated the inuence of
the oil content of the emulsion, the salinity of the water, the
speed and duration of mixing, the pH of the aqueous phase, and
the type and concentration of surfactant.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Materials
The crude oil samples used in this study were obtained from
Petronas Renery at Melaka, Malaysia. A detailed procedure for
the preparation of the crude oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions is
given in a previous report by Abdurahman et al. (2006). Here we
merely describe the main experimental steps. Two crude oils
were used; crude A was Tapis, and crude B is a blend of Tapis and
Masilla. Their compositions and fractions are shown in Tables 1,
2 and 3 respectively. For the preparation of crude oil-in-water
emulsions, the agent in water method was implemented; that is

Table 1
Physical properties of crude oils: A and B.
Crude oil

Crude A

Crude B

Density (gm cm  3)
Viscosity (Pa s)
API gravity
Surface tension (mN m  1) at 30 1C
Interfacial tension (mN m  1) at 30 1C

0.874
0.028
18.0
30.30
28.80

0.788
0.010
20.00
22.50
20.35

Table 2
Chemical properties of the crude oils used in this study.
Crude oil

Crude A

Crude B

Asphaltenes (wt%)
Resins (wt%)
Aromatics (wt%)
Saturates (wt%)

1.50
13.50
25.00
60.00

0.87
9.40
23.00
66.73

Table 3
Viscosity of crude A and obtained blends B, interfacial tension with oil contents.
Salinity

Oil content

Viscosity

Interfacial tension

Nacl conc.
(%)

(vol%)

Crude A
(Pa s)

Crude B
(Pa s)

Crude oil A
(mN/m)

Crude oil B
(mN/m)

0
1.5
2.5
3.5
4.5
5.5
5.5
5.5
5.5

30
40
50
60
68
70
72
80
85

1.200
1.620
1.670
1.700
1.780
1.820
1.750
1.890

0.900
1.100
1.200
1.270
1.285
1.200
1.190
1.281
1.290

28.80
28.20
27.77
26.32
24.00
23.66
22.70
21.90
21.90

20.35
20.26
18.78
15.83
14.44
14.00
13.81
13.56
12.80

the emulsifying agent was dissolved in the continuous phase

(water), and oil was added gradually to the mixture (water
emulsifying agent). Emulsions were agitated vigorously using a
standard three blade propeller at room temperature (2530 1C).
The volume of water that settled to the bottom over time was
measured using scale on the beaker. The prepared emulsions
were used to check for W/O or O/W emulsions. All emulsions
investigated were oil-in-water emulsions (water as the continuous phase). The surfactant used in this study was Triton X-100
(polyethylene glycol octylphenyl ether), which has a chemical
formula of C33H60O10. This surfactant is a nonionic hydrophilic
surfactant that is suitable for use in the production of O/W
emulsions.
2.2. Experimental procedure
2.2.1. Sample preparation and procedures
The crude oil samples were obtained from Petronas Renery at
Malaka city, two types of crude oils were collected. Different
samples of oil-in-water emulsions were prepared using the two
crude oils and tab water. Emulsions were prepared in 500 mL
graduated beakers with ranges by volume of water and oil phase.
The water phase is tab water. The emulsions were agitated
vigorously using a standard three blade propeller. The prepared
emulsion was used to check for W/O or O/W emulsions. All
emulsions investigated were O/W emulsion (water-continuous
phase).
Two series of experiments were performed using two different
samples of crude oils. In both series, the inuence of the
surfactant concentration (0.32.5 wt%), the speed of mixing

N.H. Abdurahman et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 139144

Table 4
Stability and pour point of the emulsions containing different oil contents.
Oil
% Water separation
content after six days at 30 1C
(vol%)

% Emulsion stability
after six days at 30 1C

Surfactant
conc.
(wt%)

Pour
point
(1C)

100
80
72
70
60
50
40
30

100
75
60
55
46
30
31.43

2.5
2.5
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.3

20
12
8
8
8
6
5
5

0
7
12
18
27
42
48

(10002000 rpm), the duration of mixing (515 min), the pH of

the aqueous phase (67.8), the salt concentration and the temperature of homogenization (2590 1C) on the stability and
viscosity of the emulsion was investigated. In each series of
experiments, oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions were prepared using
various amounts of the oil samples while other parameters were
kept constant at desirable values. Therefore, the maximum limit
of oil content for each sample was determined. Beyond that limit,
phase inversion occurred. The phase inversion of crude oil A
(Tapis) occurred at oil content of 72 vol% while crude B (blends
Tapis and masilla) occurred at oil content of 68 vol%.
The emulsion stability was investigated using the following
equation and the results have been tabulated in Table 4:
Emulsion stability 1

water separated %
100
water content %

For example: oil content 72%, amount of water separated 7%,

by applying the above equation, the O/W emulsion stability will
be 75%, Table 4.
2.3. Pour point measurement
The pour point of the crude oil samples was measured using
Cloud and Pour Point apparatus Model Stanhope-Seta with Auto
Frigistat. The procedure followed the Standard Test Method
(ASTM Designation D97-93). After preliminary heating, the samples were cooled at a specied rate and were examined at an
interval of 3 1C. The lowest temperature was recorded as the pour
point at which the movement of the specimen was observed.

141

dispersed phase increases, the rate of coalescence increases owing

to the increased entropy for effective collisions between the
dispersed droplets (Menon and Wasan, 1985). The inuence of
the oil content of the emulsion on its pour point is a very
important parameter to study; to be sure that the pour point of
the prepared O/W emulsion does not increase and cause transportation problems in pipelines at low temperatures. Therefore,
the pour points of the emulsions with different oil contents were
obtained together with the pour point of Tapis crude oil ( 20 oC),
and the results are listed in Table 4. For all of the oil contents
studied, the measured pour points were found to be lower than
those of the Tapis crude oil indicating that the formation of an
O/W emulsion for a particular crude oil decreases its pour
point value.
For the different oil contents of the emulsion, the surfactant
concentration was kept constant, with respect to the total emulsion volume (0.3 wt%). The surfactant concentration in the aqueous continuous phase (water) increased as the oil content
increased and consequently the water content decreased. The
actual surfactant concentration in the aqueous phase for each oil
content is given in Table 4.
Fig. 1 is a plot of the dynamic viscosity of the emulsion versus
the oil content of the emulsion expressed in vol% at different
temperatures. It is clear from these results that decreasing the oil
content or conversely increasing the water content of the emulsion is accompanied by a decrease in the emulsions apparent
viscosity. Fig. 2 again is a plot of the dynamic viscosity of the
emulsion versus the oil content of the emulsion expressed in vol%.
By increasing the oil content up to 72 vol% (Crude Oil A) and
68 vol% (Crude Oil B), the viscosity reached its maximum, beyond
these values, the emulsions slightly decreases. However, beyond
this limit the viscosity increases signicantly due to the occurrence of phase inversion.
The effective dynamic viscosity of Tapis crude oil decreased
from 2 Pa s to 0.1 Pa s at 30 1C for the 50% oil emulsion. From the
economic point of view, it is more protable and cost-effective to
reduce the viscosity of the crude oil using the minimum amount
of water.

3.2. Effect of mixing speed on the stability and viscosity of the

emulsion
The effect of the dynamic viscosity of the Tapis crude oil-inwater emulsion was investigated for ve different mixing speeds,
700, 900, 1200, 1500, and 1700 rpm at 50 1C for 15 min at a xed

3. Results and discussion

0.45

3.1. Effect of oil content

0.35

30
50
70

oC
oC
oC

0.30

Viscosity (Pa.s)

The effects of the oil content of the emulsion on its stability,

pour point and dynamic shear viscosity were investigated. The
concentration of Triton X-100 in water was kept constant, at
3 wt% at a temperature of 50 1C and a pH of 7. The speed and
duration of mixing were 1700 rpm and 15 min, respectively. For
each particular type of crude oil, the oil content of the emulsion
was varied from 30 to 80 vol% with respect to the total volume of
the emulsion.
Table 4 shows the data for the inuence of oil content on both
the stability and pour point of the O/W emulsion. It can be seen
from these results that the stability of the emulsion remained
unchanged after six days for the emulsion containing 72 vol%
crude oil A. However, for emulsion containing 70, 60, 50, 40, and
30 vol% crude oil, some water separation occurred; the amounts
of separated water were 30%, 45%, 50%, 65% and 70%. These
results were expected because, as the volume fraction of the

0.40

0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
-0.05
20

30

40

50
60
Oil Content (Vol.%)

70

80

90

Fig. 1. Dynamic shear viscosity of emulsions as a function of the oil content at

different temperatures.

142

N.H. Abdurahman et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 139144

the likelihood of impacts between droplets, thus decreasing the

stability of the emulsion.

Viscosity (Pa.s)

1.8

3.3. Effect of the surfactant concentration on the stability and

viscosity of the emulsion

1.6

Crude oil A
Crude oil B

1.4

1.2

0.8
20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Oil content (vol.%)

Fig. 2. Dynamic viscosity versus the oil content of the emulsion.

2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6

30 oC
40 oC
60 oC

Viscosity (Pa.s)

1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
600

800

1000

1200
1400
Mixing Speed (rpm)

1600

1800

Fig. 3. Dynamic viscosity of the emulsions as a function of mixing speed.

surfactant concentration (2.5%), using synthetic formation water

as the continuous phase, and with a 72 vol% oil content. From
these observations, it can be deduced that the phase inversion
point is in the range of 6872% oil. Fig. 3 demonstrates the effect
of mixing speed on the viscosity and stability of the emulsions.
Increasing either the speed or duration of mixing has a similar
effect on the emulsions quality. The increase in speed or duration
of mixing has a slight increasing effect on the viscosity of the
emulsions and increases the stability of the emulsions up to a
desirable level. On the other hand, using a mixing speed of less
than 900 rpm and a mixing duration of less than 7 min would
signicantly reduce the quality of the emulsions. For a crude oilin-water emulsion with a specied volume fraction of crude oil
and a specied surfactant concentration, increasing the speed and
duration of mixing increases the production of droplets with
smaller sizes, which causes an increase in the interfacial area and
particle-to-particle interactions, which thus increases the stability
of the emulsion. At the same time, decreasing the size of the oil
droplets, i.e. the dispersed phase, results in a slight increase in the
viscosity of the emulsions (Stachurski and Michalek, 1996; Zaki,
1997). The obtained observations for the increase in the emulsion
viscosity due to the increase in the agitation speed, which
produces droplets of smaller size, are in agreement with the
ndings of Pal et al. (1992), as well as with those of Briceno et al.
(1997). As the volume of the dispersed phase increases, the
continuous phase must spread out further to cover all the
droplets. This spreading out of the continuous phase increases

The surfactant concentration required for stabilizing the emulsion and forming an emulsion with acceptable viscosity was
investigated. To prepare the O/W emulsions, the oil content of
the emulsion was kept constant at its optimum value, i.e. 72 vol%,
the other conditions were a temperature of 30 1C, pH of 7, a
mixing speed of 1700 rpm and a mixing duration of 15 min. The
concentration of Triton X-100 surfactant in water was varied from
0.125 to 1.5 wt%. Fig. 4 illustrates the effect of the surfactant
concentration on the viscosity and stability of the emulsions.
Increasing the concentration of the surfactant resulted in a
slight increase in the viscosity of the emulsion, and the stability
signicantly increased. Increasing the surfactant concentration
results an increase in the number of barriers between the two
phases and provides a better distribution of dispersed droplets in
the continuous phase. It is notable that Triton X-100 is a viscous
liquid. Thus increasing its concentration in the emulsion increases
the viscosity of the emulsion (Eirong and Lempe, 2006). At the
same time, increasing the surfactant concentration reduces the
interfacial tension, which facilitates the splitting of droplets into
smaller ones. The latter would result in a more stable emulsion
with a higher viscosity (Sakka, 2002). It is clear from the above
mentioned results that, increasing the surfactant concentration
increases the emulsion stability; this increase in stability could be
correlated to the oil/water IFT. Fig. 5 depicts a plot of the
surfactant concentration in the synthetic formation water versus
the crude oil/water IFT measured at 30 1C. As clearly demonstrated by this gure, the increase in the surfactant concentration
results in an increase in the number of surfactant molecules
adsorbed at the oilwater interface. The adsorbed surfactant
molecules provide a steric barrier to the coalescence of the
dispersed oil droplets as a result of the nonionic nature of the
surfactant Singh and Pandey (1991). The appropriate surfactant
concentration should be chosen based on the surfactant cost and
the economy of the process.
3.4. Effect of temperature on the stability and viscosity of the
emulsion
One of the important methods that can be used to lower the
viscosity of heavy crude oil and therefore to enhance the owability is to change the temperature. Temperature has a strong

Fig. 4. Emulsions stability as a function of mixing speeds at constant temperature

and surfactant concentration.

N.H. Abdurahman et al. / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 9091 (2012) 139144

143

90
80

% Water Separation

70

Brine solution
Fresh water

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

10

12

pH

Fig. 7. Effect of brine and pH on emulsion stability.

Fig. 5. Interfacial tension as a function of water salinity at different surfactant

concentrations.

4. Conclusions

11
30
40
50
60
70
80

10

Viscosity (Pa.s)

oC
oC
oC
oC
oC
oC

5
0

100

200

300

400
500
Shear Rate (s-1)

600

700

800

Fig. 6. Effects of temperature on the viscosity of heavy crude oil.

effect on viscosity and viscous behavior. This effect determines

the ow behavior of the crude oil in terms of the viscosityshear
rate relationships. Fig. 6 shows the effect of temperature on the
viscosityshear rate for heavy crude oil over the range of 3080 1C
in 101 increments. The crude oil shows non-Newtonian shear
thinning behavior over the range of shear rates from 75 to
700 s  1 in which the apparent viscosity decreases considerably
with temperature and is reduced by one half when it is heated
from 30 to 80 1C. The viscosity differences were larger at low
shear rates than at high shear rates.

3.5. Effect of pH on emulsion stability

Water phase pH has a strong inuence on emulsion stability.
The stabilizing, rigid-emulsion lm contains organic acids and
bases, asphaltenes with ionizable groups, and solids. Adding
inorganic acids and bases strongly inuences their ionization in
the interfacial lms and radically changes the physical properties
of the lm by the charges at the interface, along with the
electrostatic double layer repulsion effect. The pH of the water
affects the rigidity of the interfacial lms. Brine composition has an
important effect (in relation to pH) on emulsion stability. Fig. 7
shows the effect of a bicarbonate brine and fresh water on
emulsion stability as a function of pH. Optimum pH (for water
separation) changes from approximately 10 for fresh water to 7 for
brine solution. This is because of the ionization effect (i.e., association/interaction of ions present in the brine with the asphaltenes).

The oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions were successfully prepared

using two crude oil samples, the Tapis and a blend of Tapis and
Masilla. The effective viscosity of the two crude oils decreased
when it was emulsied with water in the presence of Triton
X-100. The viscosity of the emulsion was found to decrease as the
oil content of the emulsion decreased, the speed of mixing
decreased, and the salinity of the aqueous phase decreased.
The stability of O/W emulsions of both samples was found to
decrease as the oil content of the emulsion increased up to the
phase inversion point. After this point the emulsion converts to a
W/O emulsion, and the stability of the emulsion begins to
increase with increasing oil content. The phase inversion of crude
oil A (Tapis) occurred at oil content of 72 vol% while crude B
(blend Tapis and masilla) occurred at oil content of 68 vol%.
The stability of O/W emulsions of both samples was found to
increase with increases in the surfactant and salt concentrations,
the speed and duration of mixing, the pH of the aqueous-phase
and the temperature of homogenization.
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