Evaluating the Stability of Emulsion Fluid Synthesized with PalmOil Mill Waste for Enhancement of Hydrocarbon Withdrawal fromNiger Delta Oil Fields

Abstract

The economic withdrawal of oil and gas from the Niger Delta oil wells has given rise to a lot of wells being abandoned as production declined to below the economic limit. Tertiary recovery of the remnant oil will demand a strategy to squeeze the remnant oil locked in the pores of the reservoir formation. One such technique is emulsion flooding. This paper evaluates the stability of a locally formulated emulsion fluid synthesized from the waste (palm oil mill effluent, and empty palm fruit bunch) of the palm oil mill industry. The palm oil mill effluent and empty palm fruit bunch were characterized using Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectroscope, the oil component as indicated from the characterization was extracted using a centrifuge and separating funnel. The empty fruit bunch was burnt in an open space, and the ash was further homogenized using an electric blender. 350g of the ash was dissolved in 500 ml of distilled water, and the solution after thorough stirring, was filtered to remove undissolved particles. The oil extracted from the palm oil mill effluent, and the ash solution were mixed in a ratio of 30/70 and stirred vigorously to form emulsion fluid. The emulsion was evaluated for stability through visual observation, centrifugal test by varying the temperature from 30oc to 100oc with the RPM varied from 1000 to 1200, the interfacial tension between oil /ash solution of the emulsion fluid, shear stress determination, and droplet size distribution analysis. The result showed emulsion stability (%) of 100%, 99.5%, 99.2%, 98.8%, 98.3%, 97%, 96%, and 96% for temperature (oc ) of 30, 40, 50, 60,70,80,90 respectively. The analysis indicated that the emulsion sample has low interfacial tension, and moderate viscosity, and it is stable, and suitable for moderate-temperature reservoirs.